iiiiii 
iiiii 


iiiilni 


I  il  I : 


■!;;1  I   i  !);!!;.;,      !li;i, 
'  'Il 

! 


:  if 


III  !  i^  r 

^ Il«^^ 

""ii'i'iiii'lltl'iw.'j 


mmm 


I  !    i  ili:'. 
iiiiii  pi)  i 


'l'-'i!ii  iii!-.,,,-. 


iiiiiii 


^iiiiiiii 


Iiiiii 


! 


' 


'^1    ■•  •!, 


SOUTHERN  BRANCH, 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA, 

LIBRARY, 

LOS  ANGELES,  CALIF. 


MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS 


The 

National  Municipal  League  Series 

Edited  by  CLINTON  ROGERS  WOODRUFF 
Secretary    of    the   National   Municipal    Leagm* 

City  Government  by  Commission 

Edited  by  Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff 

The  Rei^ulation  of  Municipal  Utilities 

Edited  by  Clyde  Lyndon  King 

The   Initiative,   Referendum   and   Recall 

Edited  by  William  Bennett  Munro 

The  Social  Center 

By  Edward  J.  Ward 

Woman's  Work  in  Munlclpalitlei 

By  Mary  Ritter  Beard 

Lower  Living  Costs  in  Cities 
By  Clyde  Lyndon  King 

The  City  Manager 

By  Harry  Aubrey  Toulrain,  Jr. 

Satellite  Cities 

By  Graham  R.  Taylor 

City   Planning 

Edited  by  John  Nolan 

Town  Planning   for  Small   Communities 

Edited  by  Charles  S.  Bird.  Jr. 
Excess   Condemnation 

By   R.   E.   Cushman 

Municipal  Functions 

By  H.   G.  James 
A  New  Municipal  Program 

Edited  by  Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff 

Experts  in  City  Government 

Edited  by  E.  A.  Fitzpatrick 


D.    APPLETON 

PUBLISHERS 


AND     COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 


1730 


NATIONAI,  MUNICIPAI,  I.KAGUE  SERIES 


MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS 


BY 

HERMAN  G.  JAMES,  J.D,  Ph.D. 

ASSOCIATE  PROFKSSOR  OF  GOVKRNMENT,  DIRECTOR  OF  THE  BUREAU  OF  MUNICIPAL 
RESEARCH  ANT)  REFERENCE,  UNIVERSITY  OF  TEXAS 


I  .V  \        K       t    I 


D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  LONDON 

1922 


Copyright,  1917,  by 
D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


:  .• .  • .-•',•  •    '    • '  •    . 


t      «    «       *    *- 


Z'-'  <^'»'^-'9        '•c"'(        •         t        < 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


t2  J  ::^ 


nrYU 


^Z5 


^  PREFACE 

r\  Municipal  advance  in  a  democracy  can  be  achieved  in 
^  only  one  way,  namely,  by  the  realization  on  the  part  of 
the  citizenship  of  what  should  be  the  ideal  of  municipal 
government.  For  many  years  an  increasing  amount  of 
attention  has  been  directed  to  the  problem  of  improving 
the  form  of  municipal  government  in  this  country,  with 
"^  a  view  to  eliminating  corruption  and  inefficiency  and 
^  making  the  government  more  representative.  These  are 
"^  very  necessary  preliminaries  to  securing  satisfactory 
municipal  government  and  their  importance  can  hardly 
be  overemphasized.  But  after  all,  they  are  only  prelim- 
inaries, and  a  campaign  of  education  which  would  seek 
merely  to  formulate  a  demand  for  honest  and  representa- 
tive government,  and  even  for  the  use  of  trained,  efficient 
men  in  administrative  offices,  would  be  incomplete.  After 
all  this  has  been  accomplished,  there  has  merely  been 
laid  a  foundation  for  satisfactory  municipal  government. 
As  long  as  public  opinion  and  sentiment  on  what  should 
be  accomplished  by  this  machinery  remain  uninformed, 
a  really  representative  government,  being  representative 
of  an  electorate  without  clear  notions  of  what  a  city 
should  and  can  be  expected  to  do,  would  prove  aimless 
and  unsatisfactory.  No  matter  how  progressive  and  en- 
lightened an  administration  might  be,  it  could  not  ad- 
vance any  farther  along  the  path  of  municipal  progress 
than  the  electorate  was  able  or  willing  to  follow  and 
sanction.  Therefore,  a  sine  qua  non  of  real  municipal 
progress  is  the  enlightenment  of  the  electorate  itself. 
In  the  direction  of  familiarizing  the  public  with  the 

V 


vi  PREFACE 

standards  of  accomplishment  by  which  a  city  governmeri 
should  be  measured,  beyond  the  primal  matters  of  hon- 
esty, ability,  and  strict  attention  to  business,  efforts,  as  a 
rule,  have  not  been  very  successful.  One  of  two  errone- 
ous attitudes  has  usually  been  responsible  for  the  ineffect- 
iveness of  efforts  in  this  direction.  Either  it  has  been 
assumed  that  the  question  of  what  a  city  should  do  and 
how  it  should  do  it  is  too  technical  and  complicated  a 
matter  for  the  understanding  of  the  layman,  or 
attempts  in  the  direction  of  enlightening  the  public  on 
the  fundamental  principles  underlying  municipal  activity 
have  been  too  restricted  and  one-sided.  There  are  scores 
of  associations  interested  in  some  particular  phase  of 
municipal  activity,  such  as  playground  associations,  pub- 
lic library  associations,  housing  associations,  city  plan- 
ning associations,  tax  associations  and  many  others  which 
devote  most  of  their  energy  toward  trying  to  show  that 
their  particular  concerns  are  the  most  important  of  all 
the  problems  that  confront  the  city.  The  educative  value 
of  such  organizations  is  not  to  be  minimized.  But  the 
chief  trouble  with  them  has  been  that  their  very  multi- 
plicity and  enthusiasm  have  confused  the  municipal  citi- 
zen quite  as  much  as  they  have  enlightened  him.  What 
he  requires  above  all  things  in  order  to  have  an  intelligent 
opinion  on  the  needs  of  his  city  is  a  simple  but  compre- 
hensive survey  of  the  whole  field  of  municipal  endeavor. 
Then  and  only  then  may  he  be  in  a  position  to  discrim- 
inate between  many  desirable  objects,  not  all  of  which 
are  capable  of  immediate  attainment.  To  offer  such  a 
survey,  which  every  intelligent  member  of  the  commun- 
ity can  readily  comprehend,  is  the  fundamental  purpose 
of  this  volume. 

Tt  seems  apparent  that  while  the  enlightenment  of  the 
entire  citizenship  is  the  ultimate  object  to  be  desired,  for 


PREFACE  vii 

many  years  to  come  the  progress  of  municipal  improve- 
ment and  the  active  work  in  its  behalf  will  depend  on  that 
portion  of  the  community  which  has  been  favored  with 
the  best  educational  advantages,  that  is,  the  college  bred 
men  and  women.  There  is  much  material  available  for 
textbook  use  on  the  organization  side  of  municipal  gov- 
ernment. There  are  also  many  books  on  particular 
phases  of  municipal  activities,  some  of  them  popular,  but 
many  of  them  too  technical.  But  there  is  very  little  in 
the  way  of  books  that  try  to  cover  the  whole  range  of 
the  major  activities  of  cities.  With  a  view  to  meeting 
this  lack  also  in  the  textbook  field,  this  book  is  intended 
for  use  as  a  textbook  in  college  classes  in  municipal 
government. 

Neither  footnotes  nor  bibliography  have  been  em- 
phasized in  this  work.  Footnotes  destroy  the  interest  of 
a  book  without  materially  adding  to  its  value  in  other 
respects,  especially  where  a  book  is  intended  for  the  gen- 
eral reader  as  well  as  for  the  college  student.  Bibli- 
ographies, though  helpful,  need  not  be  repeated  at  this 
time  when  the  excellent  bibliography  recently  prepared 
by  Professor  Munro  is  still  up  to  date.  The  reader  or 
student  who  would  go  more  minutely  into  any  of  the 
topics  discussed  or  touched  upon  in  this  book  is  advised 
to  turn  to  Professor  Munro's  "Bibliography  of  Municipal 
Government"  for  a  very  complete  list  of  references.  De- 
tailed and  extensive  statistics  are  likewise  quite  as  likely 
to  repel  as  to  attract,  and  have  been  eliminated  as  far 
as  possible  for  the  purpose  of  making  the  work  more 
readable.  Excellent  statistical  information  on  American 
cities  is  readily  available  in  the  publications  of  the  United 
States  Census  Bureau. 

University  of  Texas.  H.  G.  J. 

February,  iQiy. 


INTRODUCTION 

Few  realize  how  closely  the  modern  city  afifects  our 
lives  and  well-being.  Until  one  analyzes  it,  and  that 
quite  closely,  it  is  looked  upon  with  a  certain  degree  of 
indifference,  largely  because  we  have  become  so  ac- 
customed to  the  services  which  it  performs. 

City  government,  however,  touches  more  people  at 
more  points  more  frequently  than  any  other  branch  of 
government.  All  of  this  is  brought  out  clearly  and 
concisely  by  Professor  James  in  the  present  volume. 
His  discussion  is  at  once  academic  and  practical — aca- 
demic in  that  it  relates  the  functions  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  city  through  history,  and  practical  in  its 
description  and  discussion  of  the  functions  now  per- 
formed. 

Professor  James  has  brought  to  the  preparation  of 
the  book  not  only  a  sound  American  education,  but  study 
abroad.  Moreover  he  approaches  the  question  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  smaller  community.  Too  many 
books  deal  with  municipal  government  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  larger  cities,  and  thus  give  unconsciously, 
but  none  the  less  completely,  a  feeling  of  hopelessness 
because  the  smaller  communities  feel  that  their  prob- 
lems are  too  few  and  too  small  in  comparison  with  those 
of  the  larger  communities,  whereas  municipal  problems 
are  really  the  same  everywhere,  differing  in  degree 
rather  than  in  kind. 

Professor  James  also  brings  to  the  preparation  of  this 
volume  a  deep  interest  in  the  subject  as  manifested  by 

ix 


X  INTRODUCTION 

his  active  cooperation  with  the  National  Municipal 
League  and  the  National  Municipal  Review,  and  he 
is  also  secretary  of  the  League  of  Texas  Municipali- 
ties as  well  as  head  of  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Re- 
search at  the  University  of  Texas.  These  various  con- 
nections have  given  him  a  sympathetic  touch  with  the 
problem  of  the  practical  application  of  municipal  gov- 
ernment to  various  conditions.  This  volume,  therefore, 
will  prove  of  service  to  the  student  in  the  classroom, 
and  to  the  general  reader,  and  will  be  helpful  and  stimu- 
lating to  the  city  official. 

Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACE 

I.  The  Growth  of  Municipal  Functions     .       .       .  i 

II.    Public  Safety 25 

III.  Public  Health    '-< 68 

IV.  Public  Education 93 

V.    Public  Morals 123 

VI.    Social  Welfare 150 

VII.     City  Planning 186 

VIII.     Public  Works 217 

IX.    Public  Utilities 246 

X.    Municipal  Ownership 282 

XI.  Municipal  Finances— Revenues       .       .       .       .296 

XII.    Municipal   Finances— Debts,    Budget   and    Ac- 
counting        323 

XIII.    Conclusion 344 

Index 355 


MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS 


CHAPTER    I 

THE   GROWTH    OF    MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

No  study  of  the  manifold  and  complex  activities  of 
the  modern  city  would  be  complete  without  a  brief 
presentation  of  the  stages  through  which  the  sphere  of 
action  of  the  city  has  passed.  Phenomenal  as  has  been 
the  increase  in  the  number  and  diversity  of  functions  of 
the  city  in  the  last  century,  more  extensive  and  significant 
than  all  of  the  developments  which  preceded  this  period, 
nevertheless  a  number  of  the  fundamental  activities  of 
our  modern  city  had  their  origin  in  times  much  more 
remote,  as  far  back  indeed  as  our  knowledge  of  cities 
extends.  Though  intervening  centuries  saw  a  stagna- 
tion and  even  a  marked  retrogression  in  the  matter  of 
municipal  activities,  it  is  necessary  to  begin  with  the  era 
of  the  Greek  cities  to  discover  the  beginnings  of  many 
of  the  functions  performed  by  cities  today. 

The  Greek  cities  were  distinguished  from  modern 
cities  in  one  fundamental  particular  that  had  a  great 
influence  on  the  kind  and  number  of  functions  performed 
by  them :  they  were  not  subordinate  parts  of  a  larger 
political  whole,  but  were  themselves  both  city  and  state. 
Many  of  the  functions  that  were  performed  by  them  are 
today  performed  by  the  governments  of  the  states  of 
which  cities  are  a  part.    That  is  simply  because  the  idea 


2  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

of  the  modern  state  has  developed  beyond  that  of  the 
city-state,  and  where  cities  are  parts  of  a  state  these 
functions  must  be  intrusted  to  the  larger  unit.  So  the 
great  branches  of  public  administration  that  deal  with 
foreign  affairs,  war,  and  justice  were,  perforce,  func- 
tions of  the  Greek  city-states,  but  are  nowhere  today, 
wath  but  a  few  interesting  exceptions,  performed  by 
cities.  In  the  other  two  principal  branches  of  govern- 
mental administration,  finances  and  internal  affairs, 
which  are  today  divided  between  state  and  city,  the 
Greek  city-states  were  also  the  sole  agencies  of  govern- 
ment. The  important  problem  of  a  proper  division  of 
these  functions,  of  which  more  will  be  said  later,  did 
not,  therefore,  arise  in  those  cities.  For  the  same  rea- 
son, however,  it  becomes  impossible  in  discussing  the 
activities  of  the  Greek  cities  to  make  a  clear  distinction 
between  municipal  and  state  activities. 

Most  important  of  the  municipal  functions  of  the 
Greek  cities,  taking  Athens  as  one  of  the  best  known 
examples,  was  the  construction  and  maintenance  of  pub- 
lic works.  As  early  as  the  sixth  century  B.  C,  a  public 
water  supply  was  conducted  into  the  city  by  underground 
conduits  from  the  surrounding  country.  This  was  not 
usually  distributed  into  the  individual  houses  but  to  the 
public  fountains  and  baths.  Street  paving  was  but  poorly 
done,  but  good  roads  were  constructed  connecting  the 
city  with  the  surrounding  country.  Public  buildings  were 
constructed  on  an  extravagant  scale,  including  temples, 
theaters,  gj^mnasia.  and  monuments.  The  Acropolis  alone 
at  Athens  is  said  to  have  cost  the  equivalent  of  over 
thirty  million  dollars.  Other  public  works  of  impor- 
tance were  found  at  Piraeus,  the  harbor  of  Athens,  which 
is  one  of  the  earliest  cities  known  to  have  been  laid  out 
according  to  a  city  plan. 


GROWTH  OF  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS      3 

Education  and  charity  were  both  functions  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  a  certain  extent,  the  former  being  primarily 
training  for  citizenship  in  the  fine  arts  and  for  the  army, 
the  latter  consisting  principally  in  the  distribution  of 
grain  to  the  poor.  But  police  regulation,  sanitation, 
and  social  welfare  activities  were  practically  unknown, 
though  Athens  was  a  city  of  several  hundred  thousand 
people,  nine-tenths  of  whom,  it  is  true,  were  slaves. 
Housing  conditions  for  a  large  part  of  the  population 
were  miserable,  streets  were  not  kept  clean  and  were 
not  lighted,  and  municipal  conditions  generally  would 
have  been  intolerable  but  for  the  large  part  played  by 
outdoor  activities  in  the  life  of  the  population. 

The  moneys  for  the  expenditures  of  the  city  were  not 
ordinarily  raised  by  direct  taxation,  but  by  customs 
duties  and  other  indirect  taxes,  as  well  as  by  tributes 
and  the  income  from  public  lands  and  properties  which 
were  commonly  leased  out  to  private  operators.  Most 
of  the  money  was  spent  for  satisfying  the  national  love 
of  the  fine  arts  and  for  the  recreation  of  the  leisure 
classes,  the  protection  and  improvement  of  the  other 
elements  in  the  city  being  apparently  a  matter  of  little 
or  no  concern. 

The  later  Greek  cities,  under  the  dominion  of  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  showed  no  development  in  the  matter 
of  municipal  functions  over  the  earlier  city-states,  but 
their  activities  were  restricted  more  largely  to  municipal 
as  distinct  from  state  functions,  for  they  had  lost  their 
autonomy.  Construction  of  cities  according  to  a  definite 
plan  was  not  uncommon  during  this  period,  but  public 
works  on  a  large  scale  continued  to  be  the  chief  and 
almost  sole  governmental  activity. 

One  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  Roman  period 
was  the  concentration  of  population  in  urban  communi- 


4  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

ties.  In  the  Roman  Empire  there  were  hundreds  of 
cities,  varying  from  small  hamlets  to  the  metropolis  of 
a  million  inhabitants  or  more.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era  there  were  a  number  of  important  cities 
throughout  the  Empire,  some  of  them  having  more  than 
a  hundred  thousand  population.  Real  urban  conditions 
and  urban  problems  were  therefore  presented  in  the 
cities  of  that  time  and  it  will  be  interesting  to  examine 
to  what  extent  these  cities  attempted  to  meet  those 
problems. 

With  the  exception  of  Rome  herself,  all  these  cities 
were  real  municipalities,  that  is,  units  of  local  govern- 
ment subordinate  to  a  higher  authority  which  performed 
the  state  or  national  functions.  In  local  matters  the 
cities  under  the  control  of  Rome  exercised  a  consider- 
able but  varying  amount  of  autonomy,  though  the  capi- 
tal retained  a  power  of  supervision  even  in  this  regard. 
More  important  than  governmental  control,  however, 
was  the  power  of  example  which  led  the  other  cities  of 
the  realm  to  imitate  and  emulate  the  mistress  city  of  the 
world  in  their  activities.  Just  as  Athens,  therefore, 
showed  the  highest  development  of  the  city  in  Greek 
times,  so  Rome  may  be  taken  as  exemplifying  the  highest 
point  of  development  of  that  time  in  a  governmental  way. 

In  Rome,  too,  we  find  that  the  building  of  public  works 
constituted  the  chief  activity  of  the  city  in  its  internal 
administration.  At  first  they  were  constructed  by  con- 
tract, but  after  the  Empire  the  work  was  done  directly 
by  the  government.  Most  famous  of  the  building  opera- 
tions for  public  services  were  the  aqueducts  which, 
brought  a  plentiful  supply  of  pure  water  from  the  hills 
as  far  as  fifty  miles  away.  Though  not  piped  except  to 
the  houses  of  the  wealthy,  this  water  was  available  for 
drinking  at  public  fountains  and  for  bathing  at  the  baths. 


GROWTH  OF  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS      5 

These  baths,  some  of  them  of  palatial  proportions  and 
equipment,  were  in  a  number  of  instances  left  by  the 
Emperors  to  the  citizens  as  public  baths.  They  consti- 
tuted the  center  of  the  social  life  of  the  city.  Rome 
was  well  provided,  particularly  in  the  later  period,  with 
open  squares  and  parks  for  outdoor  recreation,  a  favor- 
ite pastime  with  the  Romans.  But  in  other  respects  the 
aspect  of  the  city  on  its  physical  side  was  far  from 
attractive.  Streets  were  narrow,  crooked,  dirty,  and  ill 
paved  or  not  paved  at  all.  Houses  projected  into  and 
over  the  streets,  and  the  shops  and  booths  left  little  room 
for  the  pedestrians,  who  were  in  constant  danger  from 
carts  and  animals.  After  the  great  fire  in  Nero's  time, 
it  is  true,  the  city  was  rebuilt  according  to  plans  pre- 
pared by  architects,  and  building  restrictions  were  im- 
posed, but  the  physical  condition  of  the  streets  was 
never  brought  up  to  the  standards  demanded  by  a  mod- 
ern city. 

Police  protection  was  most  inadequate.  Until  the  time 
of  the  Empire  there  was  virtually  no  police  protection 
at  all,  robberies  being  common  and  house  owners  relying 
on  their  slaves  to  act  as  watchmen  at  night.  The  streets 
were  most  insecure  at  night,  and  to  make  matters  worse 
there  was  no  attempt  at  lighting  the  streets.  A  large 
force  of  over  seven  thousand  men  was  organized  by 
Augustus  to  keep  order  and  extinguish  fires,  but  even 
after  that  the  police  protection  was  very  inferior.  Of 
sanitary  regulation  there  was  almost  none.  Though  the 
city  built  drains  and  sewers,  the  most  famous  of  which, 
the  cloaca  ina.vi)iia,  still  stands  and  is  used  today,  the 
filth  of  the  city  was  not  properly  taken  care  of  and  the 
Tiber  became  a  source  of  serious  epidemics.  Housing 
conditions,  except  for  the  wealthy,  were  miserable,  the 
poorer  people  being  crowded  into  congested  filthy  tene- 
3 


6    ■  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

ments  operated  for  profit  by  the  landlords,  without  any 
regulation. 

Education  was  apparently  not  regarded  as  a  govern- 
ment function  in  Rome,  at  least  not  in  the  way  of  provid- 
ing public  schools,  but  there  were  good  libraries,  some  of 
them  furnished  by  the  Emperors.  Poor  relief  was  man- 
aged as  in  earlier  days  in  Athens  by  the  distribution  of 
grain  to  the  poor.  This  seems  to  have  become  a  regular 
undertaking  which  gradually  resulted  in  practically  feed- 
ing the  poorer  population  altogether,  relieving  them  of 
the  necessity  of  working  for  their  living. 

With  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  there  came  a 
decadence  of  city  life  in  western  Europe.  The  barbaric 
invasions  destroyed  the  economic  basis  of  city  life  and 
many  cities  disappeared  altogether  at  this  time,  while 
others  diminished  greatly  in  size  and  importance.  Mu- 
nicipal activities  were  almost  nil  and  consisted  chiefly  in 
providing  walls  and  fortifications  for  defense.  In  the 
eastern  empire,  however,  city  life  continued  to  flourish 
and  the  principal  cities  along  the  trade  routes  were  places 
of  considerable  size  and  importance. 

After  an  interval  of  some  seven  or  eight  hundred 
years  cities  again  grew  up  and  flourished  in  the  West. 
This  was  due  to  a  revival  of  trade  and  industry.  In 
Italy,  Spain,  France,  and  Germany  cities  began  to  de- 
velop along  the  principal  trade  routes.  During  the  next 
four  hundred  years  cities  flourished  in  all  of  these  coun- 
tries, some  of  them  attaining  to  a  respectable  size,  be- 
tween one  hundred  and  two  hundred  thousand  popula- 
tion. But  even  at  their  zenith  they  were  smaller  and 
less  important  than  the  larger  cities  of  the  ancient 
empire  and  were  far  behind  the  latter  in  the  development 
of  municipal  activities.  They  attained  varying  degrees 
of   autonomy   in  the   various   countries   mentioned   and 


GROWTH  OF  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS      7 

their  governmental  machinery  showed  great  variations. 
Most  of  the  important  cities  of  this  period,  however, 
were  organized  on  tlie  hasis  of  the  trade  and  merchant 
guilds,  which,  starting  as  approximate  democracies, 
gradually  degenerated  into  oligarchies  and  autocracies, 
becoming  more  and  more  corrupt  and  inefficient. 

The  chief  undertakings  of  the  medieval  cities  were 
the  public  works.  At  first  the  fortifications  wee  their 
chief  concern,  then  the  construction  of  ports,  markets, 
and  other  agencies  of  trade  and  commerce  occupied  their 
attention.  Town  halls  of  an  elaborate  character,  cathe- 
drals, storehouses,  and  public  baths  were  among  the 
buildings  erected  by  the  cities.  But  other  public  services 
were  either  wholly  lacking  or  very  inadequately  cared 
for.  Street  paving  and  cleaning  were  rare  and  street 
lighting  was  unknown.  Organized  police  forces  were 
either  wanting  or  entirely  inadequate  and  the  lack  of 
fire  protection  facilities  caused  many  of  the  cities  to 
suffer  devastating  conflagrations.  Education  and  chari- 
ties, at  first  wholly  left  to  the  clergy,  were  even  in  the 
later  Middle  Ages  but  little  supported  by  the  municipali- 
ties. Public  health  was  not  cared  for  and  living  con- 
ditions were  most  insanitary.  Plagues  and  epidemics  of 
various  kinds  were  common  and  the  death  rate  in  the 
cities  was  enormous.  Activities  connected  with  industry 
and  trade  were  well  looked  after,  but  in  other  respects 
the  medieval  cities,  so  far  from  showing  any  advances 
in  municipal  administration  over  the  cities  of  the  Roman 
period,  were  in  many  cases  far  behind  the  development 
of  the  earlier  times. 

The  period  following  the  ^Middle  Ages  was  one  of 
marked  transition  in  the  municipal  conditions  of  Europe. 
The  cities  that  had  gained  importance  and  power  in  the 
preceding  period  now,   for  the  most  part,  declined  or 


8  MUNICIPAi:   FUNCTIONS 

disappeared  and  new  cities  in  other  places  grew  up. 
This  was  caused  in  large  part  by  the  destruction  of  the 
old  trade  lines  along  which  the  important  cities  had  been 
located,  and  the  opening  up  of  new  channels  of  trade 
with  the  discovery  of  America  and  other  new  navigation 
routes.  Accordingly  we  see  important  cities  developing 
in  Spain,  Portugal,  and  the  Netherlands,  equaling  in  size 
and  importance  the  largest  cities  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  being,  like  many  of  them,  practically  city-states.  The 
basis  of  organization  in  these  cities,  also,  was  commonly 
that  of  the  merchant  guilds.  In  Germany  a  number  of 
the  older  cities  survived  and  new  places,  particularly 
seaports,  came  into  prominence.  Cities  of  more  than 
a  hundred  thousand  population  were  not  uncommon. 
These  cities,  particularly  in  Germany  and  the  Nether- 
lands, showed  considerable  improvements  in  municipal 
activities  over  the  cities  of  the  former  period.  Public 
works,  street  cleaning,  police  and  fire  protection,  and 
education  and  charity  showed  marked  advances ;  though 
the  period  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  brought  a  serious 
interruption  in  these  developments. 

In  France,  Paris  was  the  most  important  city  not  only 
of  that  country,  but  of  all  Europe.  Even  at  the  close 
of  the  Aliddle  Ages  Paris  led  in  the  matter  of  popula- 
tion, and  by  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  it 
had  attained  nearly  a  million  and  a  half.  Its  pre- 
eminence lay  not  merely,  however,  in  its  size,  but  also 
in  the  state  of  governmental  activity  it  had  attained.  It 
is  true  that  this  activity  was  for  the  most  part  not 
municipal,  being  developed  by  the  royal  government, 
but,  nevertheless,  the  improvements  brought  about  in 
that  city  were  not  without  considerable  effect  on  devel- 
opments in  other  cities,  in  France  and  elsewhere,  whicli 
strove  to  approach  the  conditions  there  found.    A  men- 


GROWTH  OF  MUNICIPAL  FUNXTIONS      9 

tion  of  the  improvements  made  during  this  period  will 
therefore  serve  to  show  the  most  advanced  state  of  de- 
velopment attained  at  this  time. 

In  the  early  part  of  this  period  conditions  in  Paris 
were  no  better  than  in  other  European  cities,  as  regards 
police  and  fire  protection,  sanitation,  and  general  living 
conditions.  But  after  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury marked  improvements  were  made.  Public  works 
were  undertaken  on  a  large  scale,  the  beauty  of  the  city 
was  enhanced  by  boulevards  and  monum.ental  structures, 
a  regular  police  force  was  provided,  lighting  and  clean- 
ing of  streets  were  required,  and  a  regular  fire  brigade 
organized. 

Contrasted  with  this  era  of  improvement  in  Paris  were 
the  miserable  conditions  in  London  at  this  time.  London, 
though  the  only  large  city  in  England  up  to  this  time, 
had  by  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  attained  a 
population  of  half  a  million,  making  it  second  in  size  to 
Paris.  Professor  Fairlie  gives  a  vivid  description  of 
conditions  in  this,  the  second  largest  city  of  Europe,  as 
late  as  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Speaking  of 
the  failure  of  the  government  to  put  into  effect  Sir 
Christopher  Wren's  plans  for  the  rebuilding  of  London 
after  the  great  fire  of  1666,  Professor  Fairlie  goes  on 
to  say : 

Not  only  did  the  narrow  streets  and  crooked  alleys  re- 
main, but  little  effort  was  made  to  render  them  even  passable. 
The  pavement  was  detestable ;  all  foreigners  cried  shame 
upon  it.  The  drainage  was  so  bad  that  in  rainy  weather  the 
gutters  soon  became  torrents.  Open  spaces  within  the  town 
were  receptacles  for  offal  and  cinders,  for  dead  cats  and  dead 
dogs.  The  houses  were  not  numbered,  and,  until  the  end  of 
Charles  II's  reign,  most  o'f  the  streets  were  in  profound  dark- 
ness. Falls,  bruises,  and  broken  bones  were  of  frequent  oc- 
currence.    Pails  were  emptied  from  upper  windows  with  lit- 


lo  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

tie  regard  for  those  passing  below.  Sewers  for  the  disposal 
of  waste  were  absolutely  unknown.  Thieves  and  robbers 
plied  their  trade  with  impunity ;  while  the  dissolute  youth  of 
the  better  classes  amused  themselves  at  night  by  breaking 
windows,  upsetting  sedan  chairs,  beating  quiet  men,  and 
offering  rude  caresses  to  pretty  women.  It  is  true,  there  was 
an  act  of  common  council  which  provided  that  more  than 
one  thousand  watchmen  should  be  constantly  on  the  alert 
from  sunset  to  sunrise,  and  that  every  inhabitant  should  take 
his  turn  of  duty.  But  few  of  those  who  were  summoned 
left  their  homes ;  and  those  few  generally  found  it  more 
agreeable  to  tipple  in  ale-houses  than  to  pace  the  streets. 

During  the  eighteenth  century  improvements  were 
made  in  London  in  the  lighting,  water  supply,  and  police 
protection,  but  in  most  respects  London  remained  far 
behind  Paris,  while  the  other  cities  of  England,  though 
few  of  them  were  more  than  mere  towns,  were  even 
worse  off  than  London. 

It  was  a  striking  characteristic  of  this  period  that 
city  governments  throughout  Europe  became  increasingly 
corrupt  and  undemocratic,  and  at  the  same  time,  in  all 
the  continental  European  countries,  more  and  more  sub- 
ject to  central  domination  and  control. 

The  nineteenth  century  worked  most  profound  changes 
in  the  municipal  systems  of  the  leading  countries  of 
Europe — England,  France,  and  Prussia.  These  changes 
were  of  two  kinds,  improvements  in  the  organization  of 
the  city  governments  and  extension  of  their  activities. 
The  two  developments  were  so  closely  related  that  it  is 
impossible  to  discuss  the  one  without  mentioning  the 
other,  although  our  chief  interest  lies  in  tracing  the 
increase  in  the  field  of  municipal  activity. 

France  was  the  first  country  to  break  with  the  munici- 
pal traditions  of  the  old  regime.  At  the  time  of  the 
Revolution    French   cities   had    inefficient,    undemocratic 


GROWTH  OF  iMUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS     ii 

forms  of  government,  of  varying  types,  but  all  of  them 
more  or  less  under  central  domination.  There  was  then 
virtually  no  local  autonomy,  and  the  indifference  as  to 
proper  municipal  conditions  on  the  part  of  the  central 
government  was  equaled  only  by  the  lack  of  interest  of 
the  citizens  themselves  in  a  governiuent  which  they  were 
powerless  to  improve.  The  Revolution,  with  character- 
istic iconoclasm,  destroyed  this  system  root  and  branch. 
For  heterogeneity  of  municipal  organization  it  substi- 
tuted uniformity;  for  oligarchy,  democracy;  for  central 
domination,  almost  complete  autonomy.  This  funda- 
mental innovation  proved  to  be  too  radical  and  was  later 
superseded  by  the  Napoleonic  system,  as  undemocratic 
and  destructive  of  local  authority  as  had  been  the  sys- 
tem under  the  Bourbons  prior  to  the  Revolution.  But 
the  ideal  of  local  democracy  and  autonomy  envisaged  by 
the  legislation  of  the  Constituent  Assembly  was  never 
again  completely  lost  sight  of.  Though  the  succeeding 
monarchies  and  empires  modified  the  measures  of  the 
republics  making  for  municipal  autonomy  and  democracy, 
there  was  a  gradual  general  development  in  that  direc- 
tion, and  the  Municipal  Corporations  Act  of  the  Third 
Republic  bore  the  stamp  of  both  of  these  principles. 

It  is  not  possible  here  to  give  even  a  brief  description 
of  the  form  of  city  government  under  which  the  French 
cities  operate,  though  it  is  worth  emphasizing  that  de- 
mocracy in  city  government,  as  in  all  government,  tends 
to  stimulate  interest  in  the  functions  of  the  government 
and  so  to  encourage  the  meeting  of  municipal  needs  and 
the  solution  of  municipal  problems.  Of  even  greater 
significance,  however,  for  the  development  of  municipal 
activities  is  the  scope  of  powers  granted  to  the  cities. 
Local  needs  are  obviously  experienced  locally  first  of 
all,  and  the  possibility  of  satisfying  such  needs  should 


12  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

be  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  local  government.  That  is 
the  principle  underlying  the  grant  of  powers  to  the 
French  cities.  The  French  municipal  council  is  given 
powers  to  regulate  the  affairs  of  the  city. 

This  general  grant  of  powers  is  greatly  limited,  it  is 
true,  by  the  provisions  of  the  municipal  code  requiring 
the  approval  of  the  higher  administrative  authorities  for 
many  of  the  acts  of  the  council,  and  by  the  entire  sys- 
tem of  strict  administrative  control  over  the  city  in 
general.  But  nevertheless,  as  a  statement  of  the  proper 
principle  upon  which  powers  should  be  granted  to  cities 
it  is  valuable,  and  there  can  be  no  question  that  a  meas- 
ure of  administrative  control  must  be  retained  by  the 
state  if  a  grant  of  large  local  autonomy  is  to  work  well. 
The  ultimate  supremacy  of  the  national  law-making 
authority  is,  of  course,  retained  and  can  be  exercised  at 
any  time.  The  important  point  to  be  kept  in  mind, 
however,  is  that  this  authority  need  not  be  invoked  by 
the  cities  every  time  they  wish  to  satisfy  a  local  need. 

Prussia  was  the  next  important  state  to  undertake 
the  reform  of  her  cities  in  the  matter  of  organization 
and  powers.  At  the  very  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  the  Prussian  city,  like  the  pre-Revolutionary 
French  city,  was  a  creature  of  the  central  government. 
There  was  no  real  local  participation  in  the  government. 
The  offices  were  filled  by  appointees  of  the  central  au- 
thorities, the  government  was  inefficient,  and  the  local 
citizens,  being  without  voice  or  influence  in  the  manage- 
ment of  local  affairs,  had  little  or  no  interest  in  their 
city.  The  troubled  years  of  Napoleonic  domination  in 
Prussia,  1807  to  181 3,  witnessed  many  governmental 
reforms  of  fundamental  significance,  not  the  least  im- 
portant of  which  was  the  reform  of  municipal  govern- 
ment.   The  Municipal  Government  Act  of  1808  prepared 


GROWTH  OF  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS     13 

by  Baron  vom  Stein  marked  an  epoch  for  Prussian  cities. 
This  act,  and  the  subsequent  legislation  based  upon  it, 
introduced  a  large  measure  of  democracy  into  the  local 
government — though,  owing  to  the  three  class  system  of 
voting,  the  franchise  is  much  less  democratic  than  in 
France — provided  for  a  large  measure  of  lay  participa- 
tion in  municipal  administration,  and  above  all  gave  the 
cities  a  large  grant  of  local  powers.  As  in  France,  the 
cities  are  empowered  to  do  what  seems  to  be  for  their 
best  interests,  provided  they  do  not  act  in  conflict  with 
higher  laws.  As  in  France  also,  there  are  requirements 
for  the  approval  of  the  higher  administrative  authorities 
for  certain  kinds  of  municipal  acts,  though  the  German 
cities  have  fewer  of  their  powers  dependent  upon  such  ap- 
proval. It  is  this  large  freedom  of  action,  granted  in 
general  terms  to  the  Prussian  cities,  which  has  been 
largely  responsible  for  the  fact  that  Prussian  cities  today, 
and  other  German  cities  governed  largely  on  the  Prus- 
sian model,  lead  the  world  in  the  extent  to  which  they 
meet  local  needs  through  municipal  action. 

England  was  the  last  of  the  three  European  countries 
considered  to  modernize  her  city  government.  As  late 
as  1835  English  cities  were  largely  medieval  in  the  com- 
position and  activities  of  the  municipal  government.  The 
government  was,  in  the  vast  majority  of  cities,  in  the 
hands  of  a  close  corporation  consisting  of  a  very  small 
portion  of  the  inhabitants.  The  officers  were  in  almost 
all  cases  inefficient  and  in  many  cases  corrupt.  The  city 
as  such  had  few  powers  of  government  and  those  few  were 
either  not  exercised  at  all  or  performed  in  an  inefficient  or 
corrupt  manner.  These  conditions,  as  discovered  by  an  in- 
vestigation by  a  special  commission,  led  to  the  passage  in 
1835  of  the  Municipal  Corporations  Act.  This  act  re- 
formed the  cities  on  the  organization  side  by  introducing 


14  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

democracy  in  place  of  the  oligarchy  dominant  before. 
The  entire  spirit  of  municipal  government  was  thereby 
altered,  and  in  place  of  suspicion  and  distrust  there  de- 
veloped in  the  minds  of  the  citizens  a  feeling  of  interest 
and  regard  for  the  local  government.  As  regards  the 
grant  of  powers,  however,  this  act  did  not  go  as  far  as 
the  French  and  Prussian  reform  acts.  No  general  grant 
of  local  powers  was  made  and  few  specific  powers  were 
granted  in  the  act.  The  old  common-law  doctrine  that 
a  city  was  a  corporation  of  limited  powers,  with  only 
such  functions  as  were  clearly  conferred  upon  it,  was 
not  superseded  by  any  general  grant.  There  remained 
in  England,  therefore,  the  necessity  for  every  city  to  go 
to  the  legislature  for  authority  to  undertake  any  project 
not  expressly  authorized  before.  It  is  true  that  Parlia- 
ment conferred  many  powers  by  subsequent  general 
legislation  and  delegated  to  central  administrative  au- 
thorities the  power  to  give  cities  additional  powers  in 
certain  cases,  but,  in  spite  of  that  fact,  English  cities  are 
still  in  many  cases  compelled  to  go  to  Parliament  for  a 
special  act  permitting  them  to  engage  upon  a  new  mu- 
nicipal undertaking.  In  the  matter  of  local  powers, 
therefore,  English  cities  are  still  at  a  disadvantage  as 
compared  with  the  cities  of  the  continental  European 
countries  considered. 

On  the  functional  side  the  developments  of  the  last 
century  in  European  cities  were  no  less  remarkable  than 
those  on  the  organization  side.  With  democracv  and 
local  autonomy  introduced  the  conditions  were  favorable 
for  the  development  of  a  proper  governmental  activity. 
The  increase  of  general  education  and  the  development 
particularly  of  the  natural  sciences  were  other  impor- 
tant factors  in  municipal  improvement  during  the  latest 
period. 


GROWTH  OF  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS     15 

Adequate  police  protection,  up  to  that  time  afforded  in 
almost  no  city  of  Europe,  was  rapidly  developed  in  Euro- 
pean cities  following  the  establishment  of  the  first  mod- 
ern police  force  in  London  in  1829.  Regular,  organized, 
paid  fire  departments  did  not  develop  until  the  nineteenth 
century,  which  also  witnessed  the  first  serious  attempts 
at  fire  prevention  by  means  of  building  regulations. 
Prior  to  the  nineteenth  century  public  health  activities 
were  limited  to  emergency  measures  undertaken  to  pre- 
vent the  introduction  and  spread  of  epidemics,  particu- 
larly of  the  cholera  and  the  plague.  In  the  last  hundred 
years  the  health  department  has  been  developed  as  an 
important  and  continuous  branch  of  city  administration 
in  all  important  European  cities,  with  special  emphasis 
on  the  preventive  side.  Public  education,  though  intro- 
duced in  Prussia  in  the  eighteenth  century,  did  not  begin 
to  supplant  private  and  ecclesiastical  control  in  most 
countries  of  Europe  until  well  into  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. England  established  her  first  system  of  public 
schools  in  1870.  Public  works,  almost  the  sole  field  of 
activity  as  we  have  seen  in  which  the  ancient  cities  and 
European  cities  prior  to  the  nineteenth  century  were 
engaged,  showed  a  remarkable  development  in  the  latest 
period.  Streets  which  had  been  but  poorly  paved,  even 
in  the  capitals  of  Europe,  were  in  the  nineteenth  century 
better  paved  in  all  the  important  cities.  Street  cleaning 
became  for  the  first  time  a  municipal  function  in  most 
larger  cities,  and  effective  street  lighting  is  also  distinctly 
a  nineteenth  century  development,  largely  because  illu- 
minating gas  and  electricity  were  not  available  as  lighting 
mediums  before  that  time.  Sewerage  systems  and  the 
treatment  of  sewage  are  practically  nineteenth  century 
developments  for  almost  all  European  cities,  though 
London  and  Paris  had  some  sewerage  at  a  good  deal 


i6  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

earlier  date.  Waterworks,  though  among  the  most  stu- 
pendous undertakings  of  the  ancient  cities,  were  not 
equaled  in  size  again  until  the  latter  part  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  The  rapid  increase  in  the  size  of  cities, 
the  greater  amount  of  water  used  by  modern  city  dwell- 
ers, and  the  increasing  pollution  of  natural  watercourses 
all  combined  to  make  the  question  of  an  adequate  water 
supply  distinctly  a  nineteenth  century  municipal  problem. 
More  significant  than  all  of  these  nineteenth  century 
developments  so  far  mentioned,  most  cf  which  present 
the  development  of  the  city  on  its  material  or  physical 
side,  is  the  progress  made,  within  very  recent  times  for 
the  most  part,  along  lines  of  social  welfare.  Briefly 
stated,  this  social  progress  has  been  in  the  direction  of 
municipal  action  directed  toward  improving  the  condi- 
tion of  the  economically  weak  or  dependent  elements  in 
the  community.  This  includes  not  merely  the  work  of 
charities,  that  is  the  ministering  to  those  actually  with- 
out sufficient  food  and  clothing,  though  even  that  fun- 
damental work  was  left  to  private  and  church  activity 
until  recent  times.  It  extends  much  further  and  envis- 
ages the  improvement  of  all  the  living  conditions  of  the 
wage  earning  class.  Proper  housing  regulations,  em- 
ployment bureaus,  municipal  markets,  public  medical 
assistance,  municipal  pawnshops,  savings  banks  and  in- 
surance offices,  opportunities  for  cheap  or  even  free 
recreation  are  only  some  of  the  activities  of  the  modern 
European  city  which  were  almost  unknown  and  un- 
thought  of  a  hundred  years  ago.  In  these  respects  the 
German  cities  have  advanced  farther  than  any  other 
cities  of  the  world,  and  it  is  from  them  that  other  cities 
are  learning  in  this  as  in  other  directions.  City  planning 
as  a  means  not  merely  of  city  beautification  and  con- 
venience of  traffic,  but  as  a  program  for  increasing  the 


GROWTH  OF  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS     17 

safety  and  pleasure  of  city  life  for  all  classes,  is  another 
distinctly  nineteenth  century  development  of  European 
cities,  which  promises  in  a  way  to  combine  and  correlate 
all  the  other  activities  considered. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  and,  in  some  ways,  the 
fundamental  development  of  the  nineteenth  century 
affecting  European  cities  was  the  phenomenal  concen- 
tration of  population  in  cities.  Not  only  did  cities  in- 
crease in  number  but  they  increased  enormously  in  size 
and  contained  an  ever  increasing  proportion  of  the  entire 
population.  In  England,  the  first  of  the  three  countries 
under  consideration  to  show  a  marked  urban  concentra- 
tion, there  were  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury only  fifteen  cities  with  a  population  greater  than 
twenty  thousand,  and  of  these  London  was  the  only  city 
with  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  population.  The 
percentage  of  the  entire  population  of  England  and 
Wales  living  in  these  cities  was  at  that  time  less  than 
seventeen  per  cent.  By  the  end  of  the  century  there 
were  in  England  and  Wales  thirty-seven  cities  with  more 
than  one  hundred  thousand  population  and  the  percent- 
age of  the  population  living  in  cities  of  twenty  thousand 
or  more  had  increased  to  fifty  per  cent,  the  highest  per- 
centage found  in  any  of  the  countries  under  consideration. 

In  Germany,  that  is,  the  territory  now  comprised  in 
the  German  Empire,  there  were  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century  only  two  cities  with  more  than  a  hundred  thou- 
sand population  and  the  percentage  of  population  in 
cities  of  more  than  twenty  thousand  in  the  three  principal 
states,  Prussia,  Saxony,  and  Bavaria,  was  six  per  cent. 
A  very  rapid  urban  concentration  began  after  the  middle 
of  the  century  and  was  especially  marked  after  the 
establishment  of  the  Empire  in  1871.  By  the  end  of  the 
century  there  were  in  the  German  Empire  thirty-three 


i8  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

cities  with  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  population, 
and  over  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  people  lived  in  cities 
of  twenty  thousand  population  or  over. 

France  is  the  least  urban  of  the  three  European  coun- 
tries under  consideration,  owing  primarily  to  the  slower 
industrial  development,  but  even  in  France  there  were 
more  than  twenty-two  per  cent  of  the  population  living 
in  cities  of  twenty  thousand  or  over  at  the  close  of  the 
century,  as  compared  with  less  than  seven  per  cent  at 
the  beginning  of  the  century.  At  the  close  of  the  cen- 
tury there  were  a  dozen  cities  in  France  with  more  than 
a  hundred  thousand  population,  whereas  at  the  beginning 
of  the  century  there  were  but  three. 

The  significance  of  this  development — a  development 
that  is  continuing  unabated  in  the  present  century — lies 
in  the  fact  that  the  tremendous  and  rapid  increase  in 
the  size  of  cities  complicated  the  problems  of  city  gov- 
ernment manifoldly  and  almost  made  imperative  the 
changes  in  the  form  of  organization  and  the  expansion 
of  functions  which  were  noted  above. 

The  history  of  American  cities  prior  to  the  nineteenth 
century  has  almost  no  importance  for  our  purposes  here, 
for  up  to  that  time  there  were  few  cities  of  any  size, 
those  few  were  small,  they  performed  very  few  func- 
tions, and  even  those  in  a  very  rudimentary  manner. 
In  1800  there  were  no  cities  of  more  than  a  hundred 
thousand  population,  and  only  five  with  more  than  twenty 
thousand,  the  total  population  of  which  was  less  than 
four  per  cent  of  the  entire  population  of  the  country. 
Even  the  most  fundamental  functions  of  police  and  fire 
protection  were  scarcely  attempted  by  the  cities,  while 
public  health  was  quite  unprovided  for  and  municipal 
improvements  almost  unknown.  Even  in  1810  New 
York  City,  having  then  a  population  of  about  one  hun- 


GROWTH  OF  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS     19 

dred  thousand  persons,  expended  but  a  dollar  per  capita 
per  year  for  all  municipal  purposes,  while  cities  of  that 
size  today  spend  from  ten  to  twenty  times  that  much. 

Urban  concentration  was  no  less  a  nineteenth  century 
phenomenon  in  the  United  States  than  in  the  European 
countries  noted.  In  1900  the  percentage  of  population 
in  the  United  States  living  in  cities  of  more  than  twenty 
thousand  inhabitants  Lad  increased  to  twenty-seven  per 
cent  and  more  than  eighteen  per  cent  of  the  total  popu- 
lation lived  in  cities  of  over  one  hundred  thousand.  By 
1 910  these  two  percentages  had  increased  to  over  thirty- 
two  per  cent  and  twenty-two  per  cent  respectively,  show- 
ing that  the  development  is  continuing  to  an  even  more 
marked  degree.  The  same  cause,  that  is,  the  increase 
in  urban  concentration,  should  have  the  same  effect,  that 
is,  a  corresponding  increase  in  municipal  functions,  in 
the  United  States  as  in  Europe,  and  in  large  measure 
this  has  been  true.  But  American  cities  have  not  kept 
pace  in  this  regard  with  European  cities,  more  especially 
those  of  Germany.  Doubtless  many  factors  contributed 
to  this  situation,  but  among  the  most  potent  must  be  con- 
sidered the  difference  in  the  measure  of  the  local  powers 
granted  to  cities  in  the  United  States  as  compared  with 
those  of  Germany  and  Europe  generally.  From  the  very 
beginning  of  the  history  of  the  cities  in  the  independent 
American  states  they  have  been  mendicants  for  powers 
from  the  all-powerful  legislatures.  Few  powers  were 
granted  in  the  charters  and  those  few  were  considerably 
circumscribed.  The  courts,  by  adopting  at  the  outset  a 
policy  of  strict  construction  against  municipal  powers  not 
clearly  granted,  crippled  our  cities  still  more  and  made 
them  more  than  ever  dependent  on  minute  legislative  ac- 
tion. Consequently,  as  new  powers  became  imperative, 
owing  to  increasingly  complex  municipal  conditions,  each 


20  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

separate  undertaking  had  to  be  sanctioned  by  the  legisla- 
ture, sometimes  years  after  the  need  had  developed.  No 
matter  how  desirable  a  municipal  project  might  seem, 
no  matter  how  willing  the  citizens  might  be  to  undertake 
the  financial  burden,  the  city  in  question  was  powerless 
to  satisfy  its  wants  until  an  ignorant,  indifferent,  and 
sometimes  corrupt  legislature  could  be  induced  to  act 
favorably  on  the  grant  of  power  desired. 

How  different  would  have  been  the  case  had  our 
American  cities,  like  those  of  Germany,  been  able  to 
meet  each  situation  as  it  arose  in  the  light  of  local  con- 
ditions, provided  only  that  no  general  state  law  was 
contravened,  and  subject  to  salutory  administrative  con- 
trol. The  method  we  have  adopted  in  this  country  of 
protecting  the  cities  by  constitutional  provision  against 
legislative  interference  in  certain  municipal  matters, 
though  perhaps  the  only  remedy  for  the  legislative  abuses 
that  had  arisen,  is  at  best  a  cumbersome  and  ineffective 
way  of  dealing  with  the  problem  and  far  less  satisfactory 
than  the  policy  of  legislative  grant  of  comprehensive 
local  powers  adopted  by  continental  European  countries. 
Until  the  movement  for  municipal  home  rule,  as  now 
typified  in  this  country  by  so-called  home  rule  constitu- 
tional provisions,  bears  fruit  in  a  sound  public  opinion 
and  a  legislative  practice  that  will  insure  a  free  sphere 
of  action  within  proper  limits,  the  best  development  will 
not  have  been  attained,  though  some  gratifying  improve- 
ment over  earlier  conditions  will  have  been  recorded 
under  the  system  of  constitutional  limitations  on  the 
legislative  power. 

Surveying  now  briefly  the  development  of  municipal 
functions  in  the  United  States  during  the  nineteenth 
century  we  find  that  the  rudimentary  police  protection 
by  constables  and  night  watchmen  found  in  the  colonial 


GROWTH  OF  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS    21 

towns  was  not  superseded  by  regular  professional  police 
forces  until  well  into  the  second  third  of  the  century 
and  then  only  in  the  larger  cities.  In  the  same  way  the 
means  of  fire  protection  did  not  change  from  the  old- 
time  inefficient  volunteer  system  to  the  paid  permanent 
fire  departments  until  about  the  middle  of  the  century. 
Special  public  health  authorities  made  their  appearance 
in  the  early  years  of  the  century  in  a  few  of  the  larger 
cities,  but  their  activities  were  practically  confined  to 
dealing  with  epidemics  of  contagious  diseases.  Here 
again  it  was  after  the  middle  of  the  century  before  any 
American  city  had  a  permanent  force  of  health  inspec- 
tors, though  most  of  the  large  cities  had  boards  of  health 
and  health  officers  by  that  time. 

Public  elementary  education,  from  the  first  a  function 
of  the  New  England  colonial  towns,  was  one  of  the 
earliest  municipal  functions  in  the  United  States.  There 
developed  a  tendency,  however,  to  separate  the  school 
administration  from  the  other  municipal  functions  and 
to  intrust  it  to  special  boards  not  under  the  control  of 
the  regular  municipal  authorities.  While  this  is  true 
today  in  most  cases,  the  connection  between  the  school 
administration  and  the  city  has  always  been  so  close 
that  it  must  properly  be  considered  a  municipal  function 
even  where  separate  authorities  are  provided.  Poor  re- 
lief developed  as  a  municipal  function  in  the  larger 
cities  during  the  nineteenth  century,  though  it  has  gen- 
erally been  regarded  as  fundamentally  a  county  function 
in  the  United  States,  save  in  New  England. 

The  most  remarkable  municipal  development  of  the 
century  was  the  increase  in  the  number  and  importance 
of  the  public  works.  Street  paving,  which  had  been  of 
the  worst  kind  until  after  the  Revolution,  continued  to 
be  very  largely  the  old  cobblestone  kind  until  well  into 
3 


22  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

the  nineteenth  century.  After  the  middle  of  the  century 
granite  blocks  came  into  use  and  then  wooden  pave- 
ments. Brick  and  various  kinds  of  asphalt  sheet  pave- 
ments marked  further  improvements  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  century  and  the  amount  of  paving  increased 
steadily.  Street  lighting  developed  with  the  introduction 
of  illuminating  gas,  but  was  generally  let  by  contract  to 
a  private  concern,  though  Philadelphia  had  a  municipal 
plant  in  1845.  Sewerage  works  did  not  develop  generally 
until  after  the  middle  of  the  century,  though  Boston  had 
a  municipal  sewer  system  in  1823.  By  the  end  of  the 
century  most  of  the  larger  cities  had  developed  their  sewer 
systems.  Sewage  disposal  plants  were  a  development  of 
the  closing  years  of  the  century. 

Most  important  and  most  extensive  of  municipal  public 
works  are  the  water  supply  systems.  These  did  not 
develop  on  any  large  scale  in  the  United  States  until 
well  along  toward  the  middle  of  the  century,  the  first 
large  modern  system  being  the  Croton  reservoir  and 
aqueduct  in  New  York,  completed  in  1842.  Thereafter 
municipal  waterworks  began  to  be  constructed  in  the 
medium-sized  cities  as  well  as  the  larger  ones,  until  the 
majority  of  the  waterworks  in  all  but  the  smallest  cities 
were  municipally  owned  and  operated. 

In  the  field  of  municipal  ownership  and  operation  of 
other  public  utilities,  such  as  street  railways,  markets, 
electric  light  plants,  etc.,  the  nineteenth  century  did  not 
mark  nearly  as  great  a  development  in  the  cities  of  the 
United  States  as  in  those  of  England  and  Germany, 
partly  because  of  the  greater  political  individualism, 
partly  because  of  distrust  of  city  government  in  general, 
and  partly,  as  has  been  stated,  because  of  the  necessity 
of  going  to  the  legislature  for  authority  to  enter  upon 
any  new  undertaking. 


GROWTH  OF  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS     23 

The  nineteenth  century  was  not  marked  in  the  case  of 
American  cities  by  any  such  significant  changes  in  the 
organization  of  the  government  as  occurred  in  England 
in  1835.  in  France  under  the  Third  Repubhc,  and  in 
Prussia  in  1808.  The  so-called  federal  type  of  city 
government,  copied  after  the  checks  and  balances  prin- 
ciple of  the  federal  government,  with  its  mayor  chosen 
by  popular  vote,  displaced  the  old  English  colonial  type 
of  borough  administration  by  a  council  just  about  at  the 
turning  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  federal  or  mayor 
and  council  form  then  remained  the  practically  universal 
type  of  American  city,  with  important  modifications,  it 
is  true,  throughout  the  entire  century. 

A   word   may   be   said   in   conclusion   concerning  the 
tendency  manifested  in  American  city  government  in  the 
new  century.     On  the  organization  side  the  origin  and 
spread  of  commission  government  and  the  commission 
manager   plan   are   proving  of    the    utmost   significance. 
Though  a  discussion  of  these  developments  falls  outside 
the  scope  of  this  work,  it  must  be  pointed  out  that  if  the 
claims  of  increased  administrative  efficiency  made   for 
these  forms  of  city  government  as  compared  with  the 
old  type  are  well  founded,  their  introduction  cannot  fail 
to  have  some  effect  on  the  functional  side  of  American 
city  government.     A  ]^art,  no  doubt,  of  the  failure  of 
American  cities  to  undertake  all  the  functions  they  might 
have  undertaken  must  be  traced  back  to  a  lack  of  con- 
fidence on  the  part  of  the  taxpayer  that  money  voted 
for    such    functions    would    be    efficiently    spent.      The 
establishment  of  real  administrative  efficiency,  therefore, 
would  do  much  to  remove  that  impediment  to  enlarged 
activity  of  our  cities. 

On  the  functional  side,  these  first  few  years  of  the 
twentieth  century  have  been  filled  with  significance.    Not 


24-  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

only  are  all  the  old  municipal  activities  being  developed 
and  perfected,  but  new  ones  are  being  undertaken. 
These  new  activities  are  mostly  in  the  field  of  social 
welfare  work,  a  hitherto  largely  neglected  field  in  Ameri- 
can cities.  An  awakening  to  a  new  social  consciousness 
among  city  dwellers  may  well  be  said  to  be  the  most 
significant  tendency  of  the  new  century,  and  though  we 
are  still  far  behind  the  most  advanced  European  cities 
in  this  regard,  there  is  every  reason  to  hope  that  this 
development  will  continue  without  abatement  in  the  next 
years. 


CHAPTER   II 


PUBLIC    SAFETY 


Fundamental  among  governmental  functions  is  the 
preservation  of  public  safety,  meaning  both  safety  for 
the  life,  liberty,  and  property  of  the  individuals  that 
constitute  the  public  and  also  the  security  of  the  govern- 
ment itself.  The  former  aspect  of  public  safety  has 
been  a  charge  of  cities  from  earliest  times,  though,  as 
has  been  seen,  it  is  a  duty  that  was  indifferently  dis- 
charged in  the  ancient  cities,  almost  entirely  neglected 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  not  systematically  undertaken 
until  the  nineteenth  century.  There  are  several  phases 
of  the  preservation  of  public  safety  all  of  which  fall 
under  the  general  concept  of  the  police  power,  as  under- 
stood in  American  public  law.  But  the  three  principal 
activities  under  that  head  comprise  police  adminis- 
tration in  the  narrower  sense,  fire  protection,  and 
public  health  activities.  Public  health  administration, 
being  a  distinct  and  well  defined  branch  of  the 
work  of  preserving  public  safety,  is  treated  in  a  sep- 
arate chapter,  while  police  protection  in  the  narrower 
sense,  and  fire  protection  are  sufficiently  related 
phases  of  public  safety  activities  to  be  treated  in 
one  chapter. 

as 


26  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

POLICE   PROTECTION 

Used  in  the  narrower  sense,  then,  we  may  consider 
under  the  head  of  the  police  activities  of  cities  those 
activities  which  are  commonly  intrusted  to  the  regularly 
organized,  professional,  uniformed  class  of  city  officials 
that  constitute  the  police  force.  It  may  be  noted  at  the 
outset  that  there  is  a  considerable  difference  in  the  scope 
of  functions  performed  by  this  branch  of  the  city's 
service  in  the  United  States  and  on  the  continent  of 
Europe.  But  some  of  the  most  important  functions 
performed  by  city  police  are  fairly  universal  and  may, 
therefore,  be  considered  as  characteristic. 

In  the  first  place,  the  earliest  and  most  important  func- 
tion of  the  police  force  is  to  patrol  the  streets  in  order 
to  preserve  order,  prevent  crimes  and  misdemeanors,  and 
apprehend  evildoers.  It  is  obvious  that  in  order  to  ac- 
complish this  purpose  the  force  of  patrolmen  must  be 
large  enough,  throughout  the  city,  to  establish  a  reason- 
able certainty  of  detection  and  apprehension,  for  cer- 
tainty of  apprehension  and  punishment  constitutes  the 
greatest  deterrent  of  crime.  The  number  of  patrolmen 
should,  therefore,  be  sufficient  to  have  every  portion  of 
the  city  covered  at  frequent  intervals  by  a  patrolman  on 
his  beat.  Only  by  thus  making  it  really  unsafe  for  the 
criminal  to  prosecute  his  work  can  the  amount  of  crime 
be  appreciably  decreased.  Obviously  a  greater  number 
of  men  will  be  required  for  this  purpose  at  night  than 
in  the  daytime. 

If  we  turn  to  the  practice  of  cities  as  regards  the  size 
of  the  patrol  force  maintained  we  see  that  police  statistics 
are  usually  presented  in  the  form  of  figures  showing  so 
many  policemen  per  ten  thousand  inhabitants.^     But  it 

*  For  instance,  the  following  table  taken  from  Munro:  "Principles 
and  Methods  of  Municipal  Administration,"  p.  288,  note  I,  shows  the 


PUBLIC    SAFETY 


27 


would  seem  to  be  clear  that  from  the  point  of  view  of 
effective  patrolling  the  important  consideration  is  not 
the  number  of  patrolmen  per  thousand  population,  but 
rather  the  number  per  square  mile.  Of  two  cities  hav- 
ing the  same  population  and  the  same  number  of  police- 
men, one  might  be  well  policed  and  the  other  poorly 
policed  if  the  area  of  one  were  double  that  of  the  other. 
On  the  other  hand,  for  other  purposes  and  because  of 
other  considerations  the  ratio  of  policemen  to  population 
is  important,  for  it  is  almost  invariably  true  that  that  ratio 
increases  with  the  population  of  the  city,  largely  irre- 
spective of  the  increase  in  area.  More  important  than 
mere  numbers  in  this  connection,  however,  is  the  char- 
acter of  the  city  population,  principally  industrial  or 
commercial  centers  requiring  larger  police  forces  than 
cities  that  are  chiefly  residential. 

The  modus  operandi  of  the  police  force  in  dealing 
with  crimes  and  the  more  serious  misdemeanors  is  the 
arrest  of  the  offenders  when  caught.  A  fair  measure 
of   the  effectiveness  of   the  police    force  in  preventing 


ratio  of  the  number  of  police  per  ten  thousand  population  in  some  of 
the  larger  European  and  American  cities. 


City 


Berlin 

Paris 

London  (Metropolitan) 

Glasgow 

New  York 

Chicago 

Philadelphia 

Boston 


Pop. 
(1910) 


2,070,695 
2,846,986 
7,231,701 

784,496 
4,766,833 
2,185,283 
1,549,008 

670,585 


Number  of 
Police 


7,914 
7,890 

20,540 
2,020 

10,383 
4,251 
3,565 
1,561 


Number  of 
Police  per 

10,000 
population 


38 
28 

36 

34 
21 

19 
23 
23 


28  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

such  crimes  and  misdemeanors  would,  therefore,  seem  to 
be  found  in  the  number  of  such  offenses  committed  in 
which  the  offenders  are  not  apprehended.  But  the  mere 
number  of  arrests  made  by  the  poHce  force  is  no  certain 
test  of  its  efficiency.  In  the  first  place,  as  the  policeman 
has  authority  to  compel  obedience  to  his  order  of  arrest, 
he  may  act  on  insufficient  suspicion  or  justification  and 
so  swell  the  number  of  his  arrests,  though  his  prisoners 
may  on  examination  all  be  discharged.  In  the  second 
place,  a  vast  number  of  the  arrests  made  by  city  police 
forces  are  for  drunkenness  and  vagrancy  and  many  of 
these  present  cases  that  should  not  be  treated  by  arrest 
at  all,  but  by  helpful  measures,  such  as  were  inaugu- 
rated in  Toledo  and  other  cities  under  the  so-called 
golden  rule  system.  Instead  of  trying  to  increase  the 
number  of  arrests  for  these  offenses,  policemen  were 
instructed  to  avoid  arrests  and  content  themselves  with 
warnings  and  even  to  assist  intoxicated  persons  to  their 
homes. 

One  important  aspect  of  this  phase  of  police  activity 
is  the  efficiency  of  the  police  courts  of  the  city.  When 
arrests  are  necessary  they  must,  to  be  effective,  be  fol- 
lowed up  by  prosecution  and  punishment.  In  this,  too, 
it  is  important  that  the  policeman  do  his  part  effectively 
in  the  marshaling  and  presentation  of  his  evidence  and 
his  non-susceptibility  to  improper  influence.  But  more 
than  that  is  required.  The  most  effective  and  faithful 
police  force  is  crippled  in  the  performance  of  this  part 
of  its  work  if  the  magistrates  of  the  courts  do  not  do 
their  duty  and  uphold  the  executive  arm  of  the  law. 
The  futility  of  arresting  offenders,  who  are  almost  cer- 
tain to  be  released  by  the  magistrate  if  they  prove  to 
have  influence,  not  only  discourages  the  policeman  in 
his  work,  but  weakens  his  power  of  resisting  the  tempta- 


PUBLIC    SAFETY  29 

tion  that  is  usually  presented  to  him  of  letting  the 
offender  off  without  arrest. 

The  apprehension  of  offenders  who  are  not  caught  in 
the  commission  of  the  act  is  usually  delegated  to  a  spe- 
cial branch  of  the  police  force  known  as  the  detective 
service.  This  may  be  separately  organized,  as  in  the 
larger  cities,  or  may  simply  employ  members  of  the 
ordinary  patrol  force,  as  is  usually  the  case  in  the  smaller 
cities.  This  is,  of  course,  a  most  important  part  of  the 
work  of  the  police  force,  but  that  it  is  far  from  satis- 
factorily performed  in  all  cases  is  partly  evidenced  by 
the  flourishing  state  of  many  private  detective  agencies 
in  which  the  public  generally  has  much  more  confidence 
than  in  the  regular  police  detectives. 

A  large  number  of  other  duties  besides  the  mere 
patrolling  of  the  streets  and  the  arrest  of  offenders  are 
assigned  to  the  city's  police  force.  The  general  preser- 
vation of  order  and  decency  by  the  dispelling  of  disor- 
derly mobs  and  assemblies,  the  abatement  of  all  kinds 
of  nuisances,  the  dispensation  of  information,  first  aid 
to  the  injured,  the  regulation  of  traffic  are  only  a  few 
of  the  duties  that  devolve  upon  the  police  force  of  the 
modern  city.  In  the  preservation  of  orderliness  and 
decency,  and  particularly  in  the  protection  of  women 
against  annoyance,  a  new  development  has  recently  oc- 
curred in  the  United  States,  namely,  the  introduction  of 
the  policewoman.  It  has  been  found  that  for  this  pur- 
pose women  are  more  valuable  than  men,  and  the  num- 
ber of  cities  that  are  introducing  police  matrons  and 
policewomen  is  rapidly  increasing. 

One  very  important  activity  of  the  city  police  in  the 
United  States  is  that  which  brings  them  into  contact 
with  the  supervision  of  what  is  called  vice,  particularly 
gambling,  the  liquor  traffic,  and  the  social  evil.     These 


30  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

activities  are,  in  the  United  States,  not  merely  vices  but 
also  in  large  measure  crimes,  that  is,  they  are  forbidden 
and  punishable  by  law.  In  the  same  category  from  this 
point  of  view  may  be  put  Sunday  amusements,  where 
they  are  forbidden.  The  proper  treatment  of  these  mu- 
nicipal problems  and  their  importance  will  be  taken  up 
in  another  connection.  The  important  point  to  be  em- 
phasized in  this  place  is  that  the  enforcement  of  regula- 
tions dealing  with  these  matters  is,  in  the  United  States, 
intrusted  to  the  regular  police  force  of  the  city,  whereas 
in  continental  Europe  these  matters  are  for  the  most 
part  not  subjected  to  such  extensive  regulation,  and  even 
such  regulation  as  exists  is  not  intrusted  to  the  ordinary 
police  force  of  the  city.  It  is  generally  agreed  by  stu- 
dents of  the  municipal  police  problem  in  this  country 
that  a  very  large  part  of  the  police  corruption  and  ineffi- 
ciency for  which  American  cities  have  acquired  an 
unenviable  reputation  is  traceable  to  charging  the  regular 
police  with  this  function  of  enforcing  standards  of  morals 
with  which  in  many  cases  a  large  portion  of  the  popu- 
lation is  not  in  sympathy. 

Certainly  there  can  be  no  question  that  the  enforce- 
ment of  such  regulations  as  these  has  no  very  intimate 
connection  with  the  ordinary  problem  of  protecting  the 
safety  of  the  person  and  property  of  the  individual, 
which  is  the  primary  function  of  the  police.  For  that 
reason  the  recent  development  of  permanent  morals 
commissions  in  a  few  American  cities  with  a  special 
corps  of  workers  is  to  be  welcomed  not  only  as  a  prom- 
ising step  in  the  direction  of  vice  control,  but  also  as  an 
aid  in  diminishing  the  forces  of  corruption  at  work  on 
the  police  force. 

Very  important  results  in  the  direction  of  increasing 
public  safety  have  been  attained  by  the  development  of 


PUBLIC    SAFETY  31 

the  traffic  squad  of  the  city  poHce  forces.  The  con- 
tinually increasing  congestion  of  pedestrian  traffic  in  the 
cities  combined  with  the  phenomenal  multiplication  of 
fast-moving  vehicles,  such  as  automobiles  and  motor- 
cycles of  all  kinds,  have  combined  to  demand  an  ever 
rising  toll  of  lives  from  accidents.  Almost  all  of  these 
accidents  are  the  result  of  carelessness  on  the  part  of 
the  drivers  of  the  vehicles  or  on  the  part  of  the  pedes- 
trians, or  both,  and  can  be  avoided  if  proper  traffic 
regulations  are  efficiently  administered  by  policemen  with 
special  training  and  aptitude  for  that  work.  Safety 
zones,  isles  of  safety,  and  semaphores  are  among  some 
of  the  modern  devices  used  for  increasing  the  safety  of 
traffic  at  street  intersections,  while  motorcycle  policemen 
are  proving  equal  to  the  difficult  task  of  preventing  dan- 
gerous speeding  along  the  streets  of  the  city. 

While  an  enumeration  of  the  tasks  that  devolve  upon 
the  police  force  of  a  modern  American  city  would  seem 
to  make  them  sufficiently  comprehensive  and  varied, 
there  are  still  other  functions  which  are  imposed  upon 
the  police  in  continental  European  cities  that  are  not  so 
intimately  connected  with  the  protection  of  person  and 
property  and  which  are  not  exercised  by  the  American 
police.  Chief  among  these  is  the  system  of  police  sur- 
veillance developed  to  its  highest  point  in  Prussia  among 
western  European  countries,  by  which  the  police  attempt 
to  keep  track  of  the  movements  of  every  individual  in 
the  state.  This  is  done  by  keeping  a  careful  registry 
of  every  individual  that  comes  into  and  leaves  a  com- 
munity, ascertaining  whence  he  came,  what  his  business 
is,  and  when  he  leaves,  and  all  facts  requisite  to  identify 
him.  Of  course  such  a  system  of  registry  is  a  very  im- 
portant factor  in  keeping  track  of  criminals  and  sus- 
picious persons  and  so  is  a  direct  aid  in  that  part  of  the 


32  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

police  work.  But  as  the  information  obtained  is  used 
also  for  a  variety  of  other  administrative  purposes,  par- 
ticularly for  making  up  the  tax  rolls  and  the  voting 
lists,  and  keeping  track  of  persons  liable  for  military 
service,  it  cannot  be  regarded  as  wholly  the  subject 
matter  of  police  administration  in  the  narrower  sense 
of  protecting  public  safety.  The  collection  of  vital  sta- 
tistics is  another  function  commonly  imposed  upon  the 
regular  police  force  in  continental  Europe  which,  so  far 
as  it  is  done  at  all  in  the  cities  of  the  United  States,  is 
done  through  other  officers.  It  can  be  seen,  therefore, 
that  the  scope  of  action  of  the  police  force  in  European 
cities  is  considerably  greater  than  that  of  the  police  in 
American  cities,  and  it  may  be  noted  that  a  considerable 
portion  of  that  additional  activity  is  really  more  for 
state  than  for  local  purposes,  a  fact  which  must  be  kept 
in  mind  in  considering  the  question  of  the  relation  of 
the  city  police  force  to  the  state. 

It  is  probably  accurate  to  say  that  in  no  other  branch 
of  municipal  activity  is  there  a  more  intimate  connection 
between  the  manner  of  organizing  and  administering  the 
work  of  the  department  and  the  success  of  that  work 
than  exists  in  the  case  of  the  police  department.  While 
perfection  of  organization  will  not  of  itself,  of  course, 
insure  satisfactory  results  in  this  or  any  other  under- 
taking, public  or  private,  experience  has  shown  that 
unless  certain  principles  are  followed  in  the  constitution 
of  the  police  department  of  a  city  it  is  idle  to  hope  for 
good  results.  Still  other  features  are  perhaps  less  essen- 
tial but,  nevertheless,  play  an  important  part  in  the 
smooth  working  of  the  force. 

One  of  these  fundamental  principles  of  organization 
is  that  the  police  department  of  a  city  must  be  organized 
on  a  military  basis.    This  means,  above  all  else,  a  strict 


PUBLIC   SAFETY  33 

discipline,  complete  obedience  on  the  part  of  subordi- 
nates, and  a  clear,  undivided  responsibility  centralized 
in  a  single  officer  at  the  head.  The  earliest  police  forces 
that  developed  in  cities  in  continental  Europe  were 
actually  part  of  the  regular  military  forces  of  the  state 
and  were  intended  to  perform  semi-political  functions 
in  guarding  the  safety  of  the  government  rather  than  to 
look  after  the  safety  of  the  individual.  Even  today  the 
gendarmerie  in  those  states,  though  no  longer  an  integral 
part  of  the  military  forces,  has  every  appearance  of  the 
regular  military.  The  ordinary  police  in  the  cities,  more- 
over, are  organized  strictly  along  military  lines  and  are 
indeed  officered  largely  by  former  military  officers.  The 
uniform  has,  therefore,  been  a  characteristic  of  those 
police  systems  from  the  first. 

In  England  and  the  United  States,  where  military 
traditions  have  never  flourished,  the  establishment  of 
uniformed  police  systems  along  military  lines  met  with 
the  severest  opposition.  Though  every  one  complained 
loudly  in  London  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century  of  the  lack  of  protection  to  person  and  property 
under  the  old  lay  watch  and  guard  system,  a  veritable 
storm  of  indignation  was  let  loose  when,  in  1829,  a 
modern  uniformed  police  force  on  a  military  model  was 
first  established  in  the  metropolis.  The  same  experience 
was  repeated,  in  modified  form,  in  New  York  City 
when,  for  the  first  time  in  this  country,  a  uniformed 
police  force  on  the  English  model  was  introduced  in 
1857.  The  obvious  advantage  of  the  new  system  has 
led  to  its  adoption  in  all  cities,  even  those  of  the  smallest 
class.  The  imiforms,  which  were  at  first  regarded  by 
the  policemen  themselves  as  badges  of  inferiority  and 
quasi  serfdom,  have  come  to  add  the  dignity  and  prestige 
which   come    from   exterior   signs   of  organization   and 


34  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

authority.  IVIore  practical  and  serviceable  uniforms  have 
been  developed  than  the  old  blue  coat  with  large  brass 
buttons  and  the  heavy  helmet  and  have  added  to  the 
comfort  of  the  policemen  without  destroying  the  advan- 
tages of  a  uniformed  force. 

At  the  head  of  the  police  force,  as  has  been  said,  there 
must  be  a  single  officer.  That  principle  has  not  by  any 
means  always  been  recognized  in  the  organization  of 
police  departments  in  this  country,  for  police  boards 
have  been  plentiful  and  are  still  to  be  found  in  many 
cities  today.  But  authorities  are  pretty  well  agreed  that 
the  single  commissioner  plan  is  the  only  proper  form  of 
organization,  and  in  the  larger  cities  the  board  plan  is 
rapidly  becoming  extinct.  In  continental  European 
cities  there  is  invariably  a  single  head.  But  as  to  the 
best  manner  of  choosing  this  officer  and,  even  more,  as 
to  the  kind  of  man  that  should  be  chosen,  neither  theory 
nor  practice  shows  any  unanimity.  It  is  obvious  that 
he  should  not  be  popularly  elected,  though  in  the  past 
that  has  been  not  unknown  as  a  method  of  filling  the 
office  in  American  cities.  In  the  mayor  and  council  form 
of  government  he  should  be  appointed  by  the  mayor 
and  be  absolutely  responsible  to  him.  In  the  commis- 
sion form  the  head  of  the  police  department  is  inevitably 
and  unfortunately  one  of  the  elected  commissioners.  In 
the  commission  manager  form  of  city  government  there 
is  something  of  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  whether 
the  police  department  should  be  under  the  supervisory 
jurisdiction  of  the  city  manager  with  a  department  head 
appointed  by  him,  or  should  be  intrusted  to  an  official 
selected  by  the  commission  and  independent  of  the 
manager.  The  former  would  seem,  from  considerations 
of  general  administrative  expediency  rather  than  from 
the  purely  police  administration   standpoint,  to  be  the 


PUBLIC    SAFETY  35 

better  plan.  In  England  the  head  of  the  city  pohce 
force  is  selected  by  the  watch  committee  of  the  council, 
which  has  general  administrative  control  over  the  de- 
partment. On  the  continent  of  Europe  the  head  of  the 
police  force  is  usually  either  the  mayor,  acting  in  that 
capacity  as  a  state  rather  than  local  official,  or  an  official 
appointed  by  the  central  authorities.  This  raises  the 
whole  big  question  of  the  relation  between  local  police 
and  the  central  government,  which  will  be  touched  upon 
a  little  later. 

As  to  the  kind  of  person  to  be  chosen  as  head  of  the 
police  force,  there  are  three  general  possibilities,  each  of 
which  has  some  advantages  and  some  drawbacks  and 
each  of  which  can  be  found  exemplified  either  in  the 
United  States  or  in  some  of  the  European  countries 
considered.  In  the  first  place,  the  commissioner  may  be 
chosen  from  private  life  without  any  experience  in  the 
police  department  whatsoever.  In  the  second  place,  he 
may  be  promoted  from  the  ranks  to  the  commissioner- 
ship.  In  the  third  place,  he  may  be  chosen  because  of 
general  experience  and  ability  in  the  public  service  of 
the  city  or  the  state,  though  without  any  first-hand 
knowledge  of  police  administration. 

The  first  two  methods  of  choice  are  the  ones  em- 
ployed in  the  cities  of  the  United  States  with  but  a  few 
notable  exceptions.  As  to  the  merit  of  choosing  the  one 
kind  of  man  over  the  other  there  is  considerable  dift'er- 
ence  of  opinion.  The  technical  advantage  and  skill 
which  comes  to  a  man  from  going  up  through  the  ranks 
and  getting  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  business 
in  all  its  details  is  as  great  in  the  business  of  police 
administration  as  in  any  other  business.  Furthermore, 
the  esprit  dc  corps  and  the  loyalty  of  the  force  to  a  man 
who  has  risen  from  the  ranks  by  real  ability  are  likely  to 


36  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

be  greater  than  toward  a  layman  who  will  be  quite  likely 
to  be  considered  a  "green-horn."  If  the  work  of  the 
police  force  consisted  solely  or  even  largely  in  the  mere 
problem  of  managing  the  force  of  men  and  looking  after 
the  technical  details  of  the  department,  the  superiority 
of  the  man  who  had  come  up  through  the  ranks  would 
hardly  be  questioned.  But  the  work  of  the  police  de- 
partment touches  the  general  public  at  so  many  tender 
points  and  involves  so  many  delicate  considerations  of 
tact  and  expediency  that  many  personal  characteristics 
are  required  for  a  successful  police  commissioner,  at 
least  in  a  democracy.  These  qualities  of  tact,  broad- 
mindedness,  and  firmness  withal  are  more  likely  to  be 
blunted  than  sharpened  by  service  in  the  ranks  and 
promotion  therefrom,  and  can  only  rarely  be  found 
combined  in  the  same  individual  with  an  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  the  technical  details.  It  becomes,  there- 
fore,  really  a  question  as  to  which  of  the  two  kinds  of 
qualities  are  the  more  important  or  the  more  difficult  to 
supply.  Since  so  large  and  inlportant  a  portion  of  the 
police  commissioner's  work  involves  quasi  political 
aspects  in  the  sense  of  considerations  of  policy,  it  would 
seem  natural  to  follow  the  analogy  of  department  heads 
in  the  national  government  and  select  a  person  with  the 
requisite  personal  attributes  to  act  in  technical  matters 
on  the  advice  of  a  subordinate  who  does  have  a  complete 
technical  acquaintance  with  the  work  of  the  department. 
The  lay  commissioner,  therefore,  assisted  by  a  superin- 
tendent or  chief  of  police  who  has  risen  from  the  ranks 
would  seem  to  be  better  than  a  technical  head  who 
lacked  the  personal  attributes. 

Everything  depends  obviously  in  this  arrangement  on 
the  selection  of  the  proper  person  for  the  lay  commis- 
sioner.    It  would  be  an  evident  advantage  to  secure  a 


PUBLIC    SAFETY  37 

man  who  had  had  experience  in  the  work  of  public 
administration  and  had  sliown  marked  executive  abiHty 
of  a  kind  required  particularly  for  the  police  department. 
In  the  United  States,  unfortunately,  such  men  are  rare 
and  seldom  available.  A  few  instances  might  be  men- 
tioned, however,  such  as  Commissioner  Bingham  of 
New  York,  who  was  a  former  army  officer.  The  com- 
missionership  of  New  York  City  was  recently  offered 
to  General  Goethals  on  the  basis  of  his  administrative 
record  with  the  Panama  Canal.  But  these  are  excep- 
tional instances,  the  choice  in  American  cities  lying 
apparently  between  an  inexperienced  layman  and  a  more 
or  less  narrow  professional  policeman.  In  European 
countries,  however,  the  realm  of  choice  is  much  wider 
and  police  commissioners  are  commonly  chosen  from 
other  administrative  fields. 

The  military  organization  is  continued  down  from  the 
chief  or  head,  and  even  the  military  terms  for  officers  are 
used,  such  as  captains,  lieutenants  and  sergeants.  The 
larger  the  city  the  more  extensive  is  the  hierarchy  of 
officials  and  the  more  complicated  the  maciiinery.  In 
large  cities  the  territory  is  divided  into  precincts,  each 
of  which  has  its  station  under  the  direction  of  a  captain 
or  other  higher  officer.  In  such  cases  the  captain  is 
responsible  to  the  superintendent,  chief  or  commissioner 
for  the  efficiency  of  the  station  and  force  under  his  con- 
trol, and  on  -the  caliber  of  the  captains  will  depend  in 
large  part  the  efficiency  of  the  service  as  a  whole.  In 
the  smaller  cities,  the  chief  is  directly  in  contact  with  the 
entire  force,  being  aided  only  by  a  few  subordinate  offi- 
cers. Between  the  patrolmen  and  the  head  of  the  de- 
partment there  are  men  who  act  largely  as  inspectors 
of  the  work  of  the  patrolling  force.  Their  rank  and  title 
vary  according  to  the  size  of  the  city  and,  also,  among 

"^  /f  o  f-  ^  r 


38  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

cities  of  the  same  size.  They  perform  such  duties  as 
mustering  the  men  before  going  on  patrol  duty,  calhng 
the  roll,  and  inspecting  their  appearance  and  general 
condition. 

The  conduct  of  the  police  station,  whether  there  be 
only  one  central  station  or  a  number  of  precinct  stations, 
involves,  in  the  first  place,  the  keeping  of  a  complete 
record,  known  as  the  police  blotter,  on  which  are  entered 
all  occurrences  in  the  station.  This  duty  is  usually  in- 
trusted to  a  clerk,  as  a  desk  sergeant,  and  constitutes  a 
very  important  means  of  judging  of  the  activities  of  the 
department  and  its  force.  Another  duty  of  the  force  at 
the  station  is  to  take  care  of  persons  brought  in  under 
arrest,  persons  who  have  been  injured,  children  who  are 
lost,  and  all  persons  appealing  to  the  police  for  aid  or 
shelter.  The  police  station  must  always  be  kept  open 
with  some  one  on  duty,  involving  the  use  of  a  night  force. 
This  brings  up  the  question  of  the  distribution  of  the 
patrol  force  between  day  and  night. 

As  has  been  pointed  out  above,  it  is  obvious  that,  so  far 
as  the  work  of  patrolling  the  streets  of  the  city  is  con- 
cerned, and  that  occupies  the  time  of  four-fifths  of 
the  police  force  in  American  cities,  not  only  is  it  as  nec- 
essary to  have  a  patrolling  force  at  night  as  well  as  in  the 
daytime,  but  that  force,  in  order  to  do  its  work  as  well, 
must  needs  be  larger.  Something,  of  course,  will  depend 
on  the  adequacy  of  the  lighting  system  of  the  city,  for  the 
better  the  system  of  lighting  the  streets  the  greater  the 
area  of  effectiveness  of  each  patrolman.  But  even  with 
the  best  system  of  lighting  practicable,  a  larger  force 
will  be  needed  for  this  purpose  than  during  the  day, 
though  other  phases  of  police  activity,  like  that  of  traf- 
fic policemen,  obviously  require  fewer  men  at  night. 

Three  general  schemes,  based  on  the  varying  number  of 


PUBLIC    SAFETY  39 

platoons  or  shifts,  have  been  advocated  and  tried  for 
meeting  the  necessity  of  having  all  day  and  all  night 
police  service.  These  are  the  two,  three  and  five  pla- 
toon systems,  showing  variations  in  the  hours  of  active 
service,  reserve  service,  leisure  hours  and  size  of  the 
force  on  duty. 

The  two-platoon  system  is  the  one  most  commonly 
found  in  American  cities,  almost  altogether  in  the  smaller 
cities.  The  two-platoon  plan  employs  one-fourth  of  the 
patrol  force  during  the  day,  and  one-half  at  night  for 
active  duty,  leaving  one-fourth  in  reserve  at  all  times. 
Under  this  plan  each  man  gets  off  twelve  hours  on  two 
days  out  of  every  four,  two  hours  on  one  day,  and  no 
time  on  the  fourth  day,  his  time  being  divided  between 
active  and  reserve  duty.  This  system  has  the  advantage 
of  getting  a  great  deal  of  patrol  service  out  of  the  force, 
but  gives  the  patrolmen  virtually  no  leisure,  and  destroys 
the  possibility  of  any  real  family  life.  Furthermore,  in 
the  police  force,  quite  as  much  as  in  other  activities  re- 
quiring alertness  and  physical  fitness,  if  not  indeed  more, 
the  efficiency  of  the  individual  in  his  patrol  duty  is  im- 
paired by  the  long  hours  of  continuous  service.  Never- 
theless, because  of  its  economy  in  salaries,  it  is  the  sys- 
tem generally  adopted. 

The  three-platoon  system  is  based  theoretically  on  the 
eight-hour  day,  one-third  of  the  force  being  on  duty 
day  and  night,  one-ninth  being  in  reserve,  and  no  patrol- 
man being  called  on  for  more  than  eight  hours'  duty  in 
twenty-four,  though  he  does  not  always  have  the  same 
hours  off.  The  main  difficulty  with  this  system,  from 
the  point  of  view  of  police  protection,  is  that  it  does  not 
meet  the  necessity  of  having  more  men  on  duty  during 
the  night  than  during  the  day.  Furthermore,  it  is  not 
regarded  as  providing  a  sufficiently  large  reserve  force. 


40  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  more  humane  method  of  treat- 
ing the  poHce  force,  and  is  beHeved  to  increase  the  in- 
dividual efficiency  of  the  patrohnan.  It  does  not  abso- 
lutely require  an  increase  in  the  police  force,  but  it  does 
mean  that  for  a  given  expenditure  of  money  a  smaller 
amount  of  police  service,  active  and  reserve,  is  secured. 
The  demand  for  the  introduction  of  the  three-platoon 
system  naturally  arises  chiefly  from  the  police  force  it- 
self, and  considering  the  irregularity  of  the  leisure  time 
that  is  left  to  policemen  even  under  this  system,  the  desire 
for  an  eight-hour  working  day  in  this  as  in  other  de- 
partments of  municipal  service,  w^ould  not  seem  to  be 
unreasonable.  The  largest  cities  of  the  United  States 
are  now  using  the  three-platoon  system. 

The  five-platoon  system  is  urged  as  a  means  of  reme- 
dying the  objections  to  the  three-platoon  system.  As 
tried  in  New  York,  this  system  doubled  the  number  of 
patrolmen  at  night  over  the  number  active  in  the  day, 
but  no  policeman  has  more  than  six  hours'  consecutive 
duty,  and  is  given  one  day  off  in  five.  The  leisure  time 
of  patrolmen  always  amounted  to  twelve  consecutive 
hours,  and  though  the  reserve  force  under  this  system 
was  large,  the  patrolmen  were  permitted  to  sleep  on  re- 
serve duty  when  not  actually  required.  From  the  point 
of  view  of  adequate  police  protection,  this  is  a  better 
system  than  the  three-platoon  system,  and  is  more  favor- 
able to  the  individual  patrolman.  Obviously,  however, 
it  requires  a  considerably  larger  force  for  the  same  pro- 
tection, and  is  open  to  objection,  therefore,  on  the  ground 
of  expense.  Though  humane  treatment  of  patrolmen  and 
adequacy  of  the  patrolling  force  are  both  expensive  con- 
siderations that  cannot  for  that  reason  be  ignored,  the 
cost  of  police  protection  must  also  be  carefully  con- 
sidered. 


PUBLIC    SAFETY  41 

This  leads  us  to  consider  briefly  the  cost  of  police  ad- 
ministration in  modern  cities.  Here  again,  as  in  the  case 
of  statistics  showing  the  number  of  policemen  per  ten 
thousand  population,  tlie  figures  commonly  given  show 
the  cost  per  capita  of  population.  It  is  just  as  true  in 
this  regard,  however,  as  in  the  other  case,  that  the  per 
capita  cost  of  the  police  force  is  a  matter  of  little  or  no 
importance,  as  it  serves  to  indicate  neither  the  adequacy 
of  the  force,  the  relative  returns  from  the  expenditure, 
nor  the  financial  burden  on  the  individual  citizen.  A 
much  better  standard  of  comparison  is  the  cost  per  unit 
of  area,  though  even  this  will  be  considerably  affected 
by  the  character  of  the  population  of  the  city.  As  a  test 
of  the  financial  burden  of  police  protection  on  that  basis 
should  be  chosen  the  ratio  to  the  taxable  property  of  the 
city.  In  European  cities,  the  cost  of  the  police  force, 
per  policeman,  is  very  much  less  than  in  the  United 
States,  due  primarily,  however,  to  the  larger  salaries  paid 
American  policemen. 

The  salary  item,  including  pensions,  where  those  are 
given,  constitutes  by  far  the  largest  amount  of  the  police 
budget.  A  thousand  dollars  a  year  represents  a  fair 
average  salary  for  patrolmen  in  all  but  the  smaller  cities 
in  the  United  States.  This  amount  is  the  double  of  the 
pay  given  to  patrolmen  even  in  the  largest  European 
cities,  though  there  must  be  added  the  important  items 
of  uniform  and  equipment  allowances,  and,  above  all, 
pensions,  which  make  the  real  remuneration  a  good  deal 
larger  than  the  mere  salary.  Some  allowance  must  also 
be  made  for  differences  in  the  purchasing  power  of  the 
money  received.  Uniforms  are  not  commonly  furnished 
to  policemen  in  the  United  States,  and  though  pension 
systems  are  quite  commonly  provided  for  retired  police- 
men in  this  country,  a  considerable  proportion  of  such 


42  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

pension  funds  are  drawn,  not  from  the  city  treasury,  as 
in  Europe,  but  from  subscriptions  by  the  pubHc.  The 
same  reasons  for  pensions  would  seem  to  exist  in  the 
case  of  the  poHce  departments  as  in  the  case  of  soldiers, 
at  least  so  far  as  incapacity  resulting  from  accidents  suf- 
fered in  an  extra-hazardous  undertaking  for  the  public, 
and  widows'  and  orphans'  allowances  for  death  resulting 
in  the  same  way  are  concerned.  In  other  regards,  the  case 
for  police  pensions  for  old  age  would  seem  to  rest  on 
the  same  grounds  as  the  case  for  civil  pensions  generally. 

A  system  of  pensions  properly  administered,  though 
commonly  attacked  in  the  United  States  as  a  raid  upon 
the  treasury,  is  in  reality  an  economical  way  of  solving 
the  problem  of  the  superannuated  public  servant.  Expe- 
rience in  our  state  and  federal  governments,  as  well  as 
in  our  city  governments,  has  shown  that  the  pubfic  is  quite 
willing  to  tolerate  the  retention  of  worn-out,  useless  men 
in  the  public  service  who  have  grown  old  in  that  service. 
The  result  has  been  that  not  only  are  they  actually  paid 
a  pension  under  the  guise  of  a  salary,  but,  what  is  much 
worse,  they  set  a  standard  of  efficiency  in  the  service  to 
which  all  the  rest  of  the  machinery  almost  inevitably 
slows  down.  The  resulting  loss  in  efficiency  and  money, 
though  less  patent,  is  a  much  more  serious  raid  upon  the 
public  treasury  than  a  well-ordered  system  of  pensions 
which  would  displace  it.  An  old-age  pension  system  for 
the  police  force  would,  therefore,  prove  a  wise  adjunct, 
although  not  peculiarly  demanded  in  that  branch  of  the 
service  more  than  in  others.  It  has  also  the  added 
advantage  of  tending  to  make  the  public  service  more 
attractive. 

Of  absolutely  fundamental  importance  to  the  efficiency 
of  the  police  force  of  a  city  is  the  manner  of  filling  the 
positions  in  the  service.     In  a  large  measure  this  is,  of 


PUBLIC    SAFETY  43 

course,  the  fundamental  problem  of  efficient  administra- 
tion in  every  branch  of  tlie  city's  activity.  It  is  peculiarly 
important,  however,  that  the  police  force  of  the  city  be 
composed  of  the  right  sort  of  men,  not  only  because  their 
function  is  fundamental  to  the  very  existence  of  the  com- 
munity, but  because  they  are  subjected  to  a  peculiar  pres- 
sure by  the  forces  that  are  antagonistic  to  law  and  order. 
It  has  already  been  pointed  out  how  the  American  prac- 
tice of  making  the  regular  city  police  the  guardians  of 
moral  standards,  frequently  imposed  upon  the  city  in  vio- 
lation of  its  own  convictions,  inflicts  a  tremendous  strain 
on  the  police  administration  not  borne  by  the  already 
otherwise  more  efficient  continental  European  police 
forces.  To  resist  this  strain  in  itself  requires  a  high  order 
of  individual  on  the  force.  But  even  where  that  element 
does  not  enter,  the  financial  value  of  police  protection 
in  the  conduct  of  any  kind  of  illegal  business  or  under- 
taking is  so  great  as  to  make  it  very  profitable  for  the 
men  who  control  such  interest  to  use  money  freely  in 
trying  to  corrupt  the  police  force  from  top  to  bottom. 
In  the  higher  positions  this  evil  influence  takes  the  form 
of  political  activity  of  a  pernicious  kind  for  the  purpose 
of  controlling  the  responsible  directors  of  the  police  force. 
If  that  fails,  the  cruder  forms  of  direct  corruption  of  the 
patrolmen  and  inspectors  is  resorted  to.  It  is  probably 
true  that  no  single  official  in  the  city  service,  certainly 
none  in  the  lower  ranks  and  grades  of  service,  is  so  likely 
to  be  subjected  to  the  danger  of  corrupting  influence  as 
is  the  city  policeman. 

Unfortunately  for  the  problem  of  police  administration 
this  situation,  calling  for  a  manner  of  filling  the  police 
force  that  will  insure  the  highest  caliber  of  men  avail- 
able and  eliminate  to  the  fullest  extent  detrimental  politi- 
cal considerations,  is  complicated  by  the  fact  that  the  or- 


44  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

dinary  devices  employed  for  eliminating  these  corrupting 
influences  in  city  administration  generally  are  more  dif- 
ficult to  apply  in  that  department  than  in  any  other.  Ref- 
erence is  here  had  to  the  so-called  civil  service  merit 
system  of  filling  positions  in  the  city's  service. 

As  the  entire  civil  service  merit  system  is  of  such 
general  fundamental  importance  in  the  matter  of  effi- 
cient city  administration,  though  peculiarly  important  for 
the  police  service,  a  brief  consideration  must  here  be 
given  to  its  general  principles.  The  theory  of  the  merit 
system  is  simplicity  itself.  Men  should  be  appointed  to 
administrative  positions  only  on  the  basis  of  proven  fit- 
ness and  superiority  over  other  applicants.  They  should 
be  held  up  to  a  high  standard  of  efficiency  in  their  work 
and  should  be  promoted,  rewarded,  disciplined  and  dis- 
missed purely  on  the  basis  of  their  service  as  shown 
by  carefully  devised  and  faithfully  kept  records.  On 
those  general  principles  there  is  substantial  agreement, 
though  on  the  means  of  accomplishing  those  ends  most 
eff'ectively  there  is  considerable  divergence  of  opinion. 

The  method  of  securing  appointment  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible according  to  proven  fitness  has  been,  in  the  United 
States,  the  system  of  competitive  examination,  in  part 
at  least  written,  and  the  appointment  of  the  highest  per- 
son, or  one  of  the  few  highest,  on  the  list.  This  exam- 
ination is  to  be  devised  so  as  to  show  as  far  as  pos- 
sible the  candidate's  fitness  for  tlie  particular  place  for 
which  he  is  applying.  In  order  to  give  an  opportunity 
of  seeing  whether  the  successful  candidate  should  actu- 
ally, after  appointment,  prove  to  be  lacking  in  important 
respects  in  a  way  to  make  him  unfit  for  his  position,  a 
period  of  probation  is  prescribed,  after  which  the  appoint- 
ment becomes  permanent. 

The  record  of  the  appointee  in  his  service  is  calculated 


PUBLIC   SAFETY  45 

to  show  how  he  attends  to  his  duties,  whether  he  neg- 
lects them,  or  performs  them  in  a  satisfactory  way,  or 
shows  superior  ability  and  faithfulness.  Increases  in  sal- 
ary, promotions  in  rank  and  other  rewards  arc  to  be 
awarded  on  the  basis  of  such  records,  including  the 
opinion  of  superiors  in  office  and  evidence  of  fitness  for 
new  duties  by  means  of  additional  examinations.  Dis- 
ciplinary measures  of  all  kinds,  from  a  mere  reprimand 
up  to  dismissal  from  the  service,  are  also  to  be  enforced 
on  the  basis  of  these  carefully  kept  records. 

Simple  as  this  merit  program  seems  in  outline,  it  shows 
the  most  astonishing  complications  and  difficulties  in  prac- 
tical application.  What  kind  of  examinations  can  give 
an  adecjuate  picture  of  the  candidate's  fitness  ?  Are  writ- 
ten examinations  adapted  to  discovering  certain  qualities 
that  may  be  nuich  more  important  than  mere  book  knowl- 
edge? Mow  can  records  be  devised  that  will  make  an 
impartial  record  of  a  man's  attitude  toward  his  work, 
his  superiors  and  the  public,  factors  that  might  make  an 
apparently  efficient  man  a  demoralizing  element  in  the 
service?  Who  is  to  determine  whether  a  man's  offense 
merits  dismissal  or  merely  suspension  or  a  lesser  pun- 
ishment? How  can  personal  spite  and  prejudice  be  elim- 
inated in  the  matter  of  punishment  and  arbitrary  or  un- 
fair action  be  prevented  without  destroying  the  neces- 
sary spirit  of  discipline?  All  these  are  difficult  questions 
on  which  experts,  theoretical  and  practical,  are  not  agreed. 

In  the  application  of  these  principles  to  the  police  force 
of  the  city,  peculiar  difficulties  are  encountered.  There 
is,  in  the  first  place,  the  matter  of  examinations  for  ap- 
pointment. A  sanitary  inspector,  a  meter  inspector,  a 
surveyor,  a  bookkeeper,  a  stenographer,  a  host  of  the 
officers  in  the  city  have  duties,  fitness  for  which  can  be 
determined  with  considerable  accuracy  by  competitive  ex- 


46  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

amination.  For  policemen,  physical  and  mental  tests, 
though  important,  touch  only  a  few  of  the  fundamental 
qualifications  required.  Mastery  of  the  police  manual, 
a  knowledge  of  criminal  law,  accuracy  with  firearms,  an 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  city,  can  all,  it  is  true,  be  tested 
by  proper  examinations.  But  though  these  are  the  tools 
of  the  policeman's  w^ork,  his  real  fitness  depends  quite  as 
much  on  other  qualifications.  Integrity,  bravery,  tact,  con- 
trol of  body  and  temper,  these  are  the  prerequisites  that 
are  essential.  But  these  are  just  the  sort  of  qualities  that 
cannot  be  tested  by  any  system  of  examinations,  nor  even 
by  brief  periods  of  probation.  As  a  means  of  insur- 
ing the  selection  of  the  best  candidate  out  of  a  list  of 
applications  for  positions  on  the  police  force,  examina- 
tions are  obviously,  therefore,  no  guarantee  of  infalli- 
bility. This  has  led  some  persons  to  denounce  them  as 
wholly  useless  and  inapplicable  to  that  branch  of  munici- 
pal administration.  This  is,  however,  an  unjustifiable 
attitude,  for,  although  the  examination  system  is  admit- 
tedly imperfect,  no  better  scheme  for  choosing  the  men 
has  been  suggested,  and  the  only  other  basis  of  choice 
that  has  been  widely  adopted  in  this  country,  that  of 
political  allegiance  and  service,  is  just  what  it  is  impera- 
tive to  avoid.  Appointment  by  examination,  therefore, 
remains  the  best  method  now  available,  and  improvements 
are  continually  being  made  in  the  character  of  the  exam- 
inations used. 

When  we  consider  the  matter  of  efficiency  records  as  a 
basis  of  promotion  or  discipline  in  the  police  force,  pecu- 
liar difficulties  are  again  encountered.  The  activities  of 
the  large  number  of  officials  and  employees  engaged  in 
duties  of  a  clerical  nature  can  be  pretty  accurately  rated 
according  to  rapidity  and  accuracy.  But  the  record  of 
activities  of  patrolmen  is  a  much  more  difficult  record  to 


PUBLIC   SAFETY  47 

keep  in  such  a  way  as  to  indicate  relative  efficiency.  A 
large  number  of  arrests,  for  instance,  may  mean  simply 
that  the  patrolman  is  stationed  where  disturbances  are 
frequent  and  arrests  unavoidable.  It  may  mean,  on  the 
other  hand,  tliat  he  is  unusually  diligent  and  successful 
in  apprehending  evildoers.  It  may  even  mean,  how- 
ever, misdirected  activity  in  making  arrests  when  warn- 
ings should  have  been  issued,  or,  worse  still,  an  unjusti- 
fied activity  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  his  arrest  rec- 
ords. Conversely,  a  policeman's  record  practically  clear 
of  arrests  may  prove  either  neglect  of  duty,  or  proper 
discrimination  in  dealing  with  cases,  or  may  be  simply 
the  result  of  the  particular  duty  to  which  he  has  been 
assigned.  Demerits  entered  against  a  policeman  because 
of  complaints  entered  by  persons  on  his  beat  may  be  justi- 
fied because  of  neglect  of  duty,  or  the  complaints  may 
constitute  a  positive  evidence  of  efficiency  in  bringing  vio- 
laters  of  the  law  to  time.  With  regard,  therefore,  to  the 
larger  aspects  of  efficient  service,  neither  the  record  of 
arrests,  nor  the  absence  of  complaints,  two  factors  com- 
monly accorded  considerable  weight  in  judging  of  pa- 
trolmen's records,  in  and  of  themselves  prove  anything. 
Of  course,  positive  misdemeanors,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
acts  of  unusual  heroism,  on  the  other  hand,  can  be  noted 
and  given  due  weight,  but  those  are  exceptional  occur- 
rences, not  frequent  enough  in  the  everyday  activity  of 
the  police  force  to  constitute  a  satisfactory  basis  for  con- 
ferring rewards  or  administering  punishments.  In  spite 
of  these  inherent  difficulties,  however,  it  is  better  that 
records  should  be  kept  and  used  with  the  greatest  possi- 
ble discrimination  than  that  promotion  should  be  on  the 
basis  merely  of  seniority,  or,  worse  still,  of  pure  favor- 
itism. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  difficulty  of  all  those  encountered 


48  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

in  applying  the  principles  of  the  merit  system  to  the 
police  force  is  found  in  the  matter  of  removals.  No  prin- 
ciple of  administration  is  more  self-evident  or  generally 
accepted  than  that  there  can  be  no  real  administrative 
control  or  responsibility  without  the  removal  power.  Dis- 
cipline is  an  idle  dream  if  the  subordinate  can  defy  the 
superior  and  the  latter  is  powerless  to  remove  him.  It 
is  true  that  the  civil  service  system  was  first  applied  in 
our  cities  in  the  direction  of  preventing  political  removals, 
by  requiring  that  removals  should  be  for  legal  cause. 
But  this  same  requirement  proved  subsequently,  in  New 
York  City,  where  it  was  introduced,  to  be  the  means  of 
demoralizing  the  police  force  by  removing  the  question 
of  the  dismissal  of  a  subordinate  from  the  hands  of  the 
commissioner  to  the  courts.  In  no  branch  of  the  city 
service  is  it  more  important  that  the  removal  power  be 
left  in  the  hands  of  the  responsible  head  of  the  depart- 
ment than  in  the  case  of  the  police  department.  Quite 
recently  the  post  of  the  head  of  the  New  York  Police 
Department  was  declined  by  General  Goethals  for  the 
express  reason,  it  is  said,  that  he  was  not  accorded  com- 
plete removal  power. 

Of  course,  arbitrary  and  unjustified  removals  are  un- 
desirable in  the  police  force  as  well  as  elsewhere  in  the 
municipal  administration.  But  limitations  on  the  removal 
power  of  the  head  are  much  more  to  be  deplored,  and 
the  device  of  allowing  an  appeal  to  some  other  body  from 
the  order  of  removal,  though  less  objectionable  in  other 
branches  of  the  administration,  must  be  discarded  in  con- 
nection with  the  city  police.  Such  safeguards  as  arise 
from  a  requirement  of  written  charges  and  a  public  hear- 
ing, if  desired  by  the  individual  affected,  are  as  far  as 
it  is  wise  to  go  in  putting  any  sort  of  checks  on  the 
removal  power  of  the  responsible  head.     It  should  not 


PUBLIC    SAFETY  49 

be  overlooked  that,  with  a  properly  administered  system 
of  appointment  examinations,  the  temptation  to  make  po- 
litical removals  is  practically  overcome,  as  the  vacancy 
thus  created  could  not  be  filled  in  accordance  with  the 
desires  of  the  removing  officer  anyway. 

Even  under  the  best  system  of  examinations  that  could 
be  devised  in  order  to  determine  the  relative  fitness  of 
candidates  for  positions  on  the  police  force,  it  will  still 
be  true  that  even  the  successful  candidates  arc  relatively 
ignorant  of  a  large  part  of  the  duties  they  will  have  to 
perform.  At  present,  with  a  comparatively  small  num- 
ber of  cities  actually  employing  careful  examinations  for 
appointment,  this  is  normally  true  of  all  the  new  men. 
It  is  very  important,  therefore,  that  the  rank  and  file  of 
policemen  learn  at  the  earliest  possible  date  after  being 
taken  onto  the  force,  in  as  scientific  a  manner  as  can  be, 
the  best  method  of  performing  their  functions.  This  can 
be  done  through  police  training  schools  such  as  are  found 
in  all  countries  of  Europe,  and  have  recently  been  estab- 
lished in  a  few  of  the  larger  cities  of  this  country.  The 
problem  of  training  men  for  the  public  service  in  all  its 
positions  is  one  of  fundamental  importance  to  the  effi- 
ciency of  all  public  administration,  national,  state,  and 
local,  yet  one  that  is  still  far  from  its  solution  in  the 
United  States.  But  the  need  of  training  the  men  already 
in  the  service  better  to  perform  their  functions  is  even 
more  immediate,  and  fortunately  not  so  complicated.  In 
the  police  department,  particularly,  is  it  true  that  pre- 
vious work  and  experience  in  other  fields  is  less  likely  to 
be  of  direct  benefit  than  is  the  case  in  most  of  the  clerical 
and  technical  positions  in  the  city  service.  The  more  need 
therefore  of  a  school  provided  by  the  city  wherein  tiie 
members  of  the  force  can  get  the  information  they  are 
almost  certain  to  lack. 


50  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

One  final  point  of  prime  importance  remains  to  be 
considered  in  discussing  the  problem  of  police  adminis- 
tration in  cities,  and  that  is  the  relation  of  the  local  police 
force  to  the  state  government.  This  is,  of  course,  but 
one  phase  of  the  larger  question  as  to  the  proper  relations 
between  the  cities  in  the  exercise  of  what  might  be  consid- 
ered local  functions  and  the  central  government,  a  question 
which,  as  has  been  suggested  before,  is  one  of  great  im- 
portance and  of  equal  complexity.  As  was  the  case  with 
regard  to  the  civil  service  merit  system  just  considered, 
so  also  in  regard  to  this  matter  of  the  relation  of  the 
city  to  the  state,  the  application  of  general  principles, 
even  were  they  generally  accepted,  presents  peculiar  dif- 
ficulties in  connection  with  the  problem  of  police  admin- 
istration. As  there  is,  however,  little  agreement  in  the- 
ory and  less  uniformity  in  practice  in  the  whole  question 
of  regulating  the  relations  between  state  and  municipal- 
ity, this  question,  instead  of  being  considered  in  its 
general  aspects  here,  can  best  be  taken  up  individually 
in  connection  with  the  study  of  the  different  classes 
of  functions  to  be  dealt  with.  Indeed,  about  the  only 
guiding  principle  on  which  there  can  be  said  to  be 
pretty  general  agreement,  so  far  as  the  relation  of  the 
state  to  municipal  activities  is  concerned,  must  be  stated 
in  very  general  terms.  In  general,  the  city  should  have 
perfect  freedom  in  pursuing  its  various  activities,  so  long 
as  they  do  not  materially  affect  the  welfare  of  the  state 
in  general  as  well  as  that  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city. 
So  far  as  the  state,  however,  has  larger  interests  involved 
in  any  municipal  activities,  the  state  must  retain  some 
measure  of  control.  But  what  activities  of  cities  do  or 
may  materially  affect  the  welfare  of  the  state,  and  to  what 
extent,  and  how  the  desirable  control  of  the  state  is  to  be 
exercised,  those  are  the  difficult  and  mooted  questions. 


PUBLIC    SAFETY  51 

It  has  been  suggested  that  in  these  regards  the  police 
activities  of  cities  occupy  a  somewhat  pecuHar  position. 
So  far  as  the  intimacy  of  interests  between  the  police 
forces  in  cities  and  the  state  as  a  whole  is  concerned,  the 
situation  is  certainly  striking.  Since  a  large,  and  perhaps 
the  largest,  certainly  the  most  fundamental,  function  of 
city  police  departments  consists  in  the  enforcement  of  laws 
passed  by  the  state,  it  is  obvious  that,  whatever  the  form  of 
organization  and  whatever  the  method  of  control,  the  city 
police  are  really  and  directly  state  agents.  It  is  here 
not  merely  a  question  of  the  general  agency  of  munici- 
palities and  municipal  officers  for  carrying  out  the  local 
government  purposes  of  the  state.  It  is  a  much  more 
specific  and  immediate  state  function  that  is  being  directly 
intrusted  to  municipal  agents.  For  that  reason  one  would 
naturally  expect  the  control  exercised  by  the  state  to  be 
more  complete  in  this  field  than  in  any  other. 

In  European  countries  generally,  at  least  on  the  conti- 
nent, we  see  this  intimacy  of  functional  relations  between 
city  police  and  state  governments  strikingly  recognized 
in  a  corresponding  closeness  of  governmental  relations. 
In  the  larger  continental  European  cities  the  police  com- 
missioner is  a  state  officer,  appointed  and  removable  by 
the  central  government  and  responsible  to  it  alone.  Even 
in  the  smaller  cities,  where  the  local  executive  is  com- 
monly charged  with  the  duty  of  administering  the  police 
service,  he  does  so  distinctly  as  state  agent  and  is  sub- 
jected to  a  very  complete  control  and  supervision  in  all 
his  dealings  in  that  capacity.  So,  for  instance,  in  France 
and  Prussia,  even  in  the  smaller  cities  where  special  state 
commissioners  are  not  employed,  the  appointments  to  the 
police  force  made  by  the  local  executive  are  subject  to 
central  approval.  Police  ordinances,  moreover,  are  gen- 
erally made  not  by  the  local  council  but  by  the  local  exe- 


52  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

cutive,  subject  to  approval  by  the  higher  administrative 
authorities. 

In  England,  the  police  force  of  London  is  under  direct 
central  control,  the  police  commissioner  being  a  royal  ap- 
pointee. In  the  provincial  cities,  the  borough  council, 
through  one  of  its  standing  committees,  has  complete  con- 
trol over  the  police  administration.  But  the  arm  of  the 
central  government  makes  itself  felt  even  there  in  the 
interests  of  a  certain  minimum  police  efficiency  at  any 
rate.  The  National  Treasury  pays  annual  subventions, 
amounting  to  about  one-third  of  the  cost  of  police  ad- 
ministration in  the  cities,  to  those  municipalities  whose 
force  meets  a  standard  of  efficiency  in  men  and  equip- 
ment determined  by  the  Home  Office  and  investigated  by 
its  inspectors.  This  form  of  state  intervention  in  local 
police  administration  is  less  rigid  and  complete  than  that 
found  in  continental  cities ;  nevertheless,  the  threat  of 
withholding  the  annual  subvention  is  in  itself  a  powerful 
argument  which  needs  no  other  compulsion.  The  fact  that 
the  authority  which  the  state  thus  wields  in  local  police 
matters  has  not  been  used  to  force  the  municipalities 
to  a  maximum  of  police  efficiency  does  not  make  the 
power  of  interference  and  the  possibilities  of  control  less 
real. 

Even  in  the  United  States,  recognition  of  the  character 
of  city  police  as  direct  state  agents  has  not  been  lacking. 
Some  of  our  courts  have  held,  for  instance,  that  police 
officers,  though  locally  appointed  and  locally  paid,  are 
not  local  officers  but  state  officers,  at  least  for  certain 
purposes.  In  some  of  our  larger  cities,  as  has  been  seen, 
local  control  has  been  entirely  superseded  by  state  con- 
trol, and  police  administration  has  been  in  the  hands 
of  a  state  board.  This  solution  of  the  problem  has  not 
commended  itself  generally,  however,  and  a  number  of 


PUBLIC   SAFETY  53 

the  states  repealed  these  measures  of  state  control.  To- 
day Baltimore,  Boston  and  St.  Louis  are  the  only  ones 
among  the  larger  cities  of  the  country  that  have  state 
police  commissions. 

Theoretically  speaking,  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that 
the  desirability,  if  not  indeed  the  necessity,  of  direct  state 
administration  is  greater  in  the  case  of  the  police  activity 
than  of  any  other  function  commonly  performed  by  cities. 
Yet  there  seems  to  be  so  strong  a  sentiment  against  such 
direct  state  activity  that  there  is  little  hope  of  it  ever 
being  generally  adopted.  State  administration  in  the 
United  States  has  not,  generally  speaking,  been  on  so  high 
a  plane  that  a  transfer  of  functions  from  city  to  state 
necessarily  promised  an  improvement.  Furthermore,  the 
duties  of  police  include  besides  the  enforcement  of  state 
laws  the  execution  of  local  ordinances  as  well,  and  it  is 
only  reasonable,  therefore,  that  local  authorities  should 
have  a  voice  corresponding  to  the  local  interest,  especially 
when  the  costs  of  police  administration  are  borne  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  city. 

Some  plan  of  administration,  therefore,  which  would 
accord  to  the  local  authorities  their  legitimate  share  in 
police  administration  and  yet  assure  to  the  state  the  means 
of  looking  after  the  proper  enforcement  of  state  laws 
would  seem  to  be  the  most  satisfactory  solution  of  this 
problem.  The  local  appointment  and  direction  of  the 
force,  with  a  power  of  removal  on  the  part  of  the  state 
government  in  case  a  violation  of  the  state  interest  is 
shown,  would  seem  to  offer  a  promising  way  out  of  the 
difficulty.  It  would  seem  to  offer  some  advantages  if  the 
state  paid  a  share  of  the  cost  of  local  police  administra- 
tion, but  made  such  contributions  dependent,  as  in  the 
English  boroughs,  upon  their  measuring  up  to  a  definite 
standard  of  efficiency. 
5 


54  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

FIRE   PROTECTION 

There  are  two  conceivable  methods  of  dealing  with 
the  problem  of  protecting  the  community  and  the  in- 
dividuals in  the  community  from  loss  of  life  and  prop- 
erty by  fire.  One  is  to  concentrate  energy  on  the  pre- 
vention of  fire,  or  at  least  on  the  reduction  of  its  occur- 
rence to  a  minimum,  and  so  obviate  the  need  of  installing 
elaborate  and  expensive  apparatus  for  dealing  with  fires 
when  they  do  occur.  The  other  is  to  ignore  methods  of 
preventing  the  occurrence  and  likelihood  of  spread  of 
fires  and  to  develop  correspondingly  elaborate  and  effi- 
cient fire-fighting  systems.  Broadly  speaking,  the  first 
method  of  dealing  with  this  problem  of  public  safety  has 
been  adopted  by  European  cities ;  the  second  is  the  char- 
acteristically American  method.  To  illustrate,  the  annual 
fire  loss  in  American  cities  is  more  than  two  dollars  and 
fifty  cents  per  capita,  while  the  average  cost  of  maintain- 
ing the  fire-fighting  departments  is  more  than  one  dol- 
lar and  fifty  cents  per  capita  per  year.  In  Europe,  the 
annual  expenditure  for  fire-fighting  forces  is  about  twenty 
cents  per  capita,  while  the  annual  per  capita  fire  loss 
is  about  thirty  cents.  In  other  words,  American  cities, 
though  spending  eight  times  as  much  for  fire-fighting 
equipment,  lose  eight  times  as  much  property  by  fire. 
It  is  a  false  pride,  therefore,  which  Americans  are  apt 
to  show  in  pointing  to  the  superiority  of  the  fire  depart- 
ments in  this  country.  Rather  is  that  superiority  and 
expensiveness  evidence  of  the  most  short-sighted  policy. 

The  figures  with  regard  to  annual  fire  losses  in  the 
United  States  are  simply  staggering.  It  is  estimated  that 
if  all  items  are  properly  taken  into  account,  that  is,  actual 
cash  value  of  buildings  destroyed,  insurance  due  to  great 
fire  risk,  additional  water  service  required,  cost  of  the 


PUBLIC    SAFETY  55 

fire  departments,  etc.,  but  not  including  loss  of  business, 
employment  and  life,  the  annual  loss  will  total  nearly 
five  hundred  million  dollars.  When  it  is  remembered, 
furthermore,  that  by  far  the  greater  part  of  this  loss 
must  be  classed  as  preventable,  it  can  readily  be  seen 
what  tremendous  significance  the  problem  of  fire  preven- 
tion assumes.  It  will  be  worth  while,  therefore,  to  enu- 
merate very  briefly  some  of  the  most  important  factors 
involved  in  this  problem. 

Foremost  among  the  causes  of  fires  must  be  placed  in- 
dividual negligence,  negligence  due  in  part  to  sheer  ignor- 
ance, in  large  part  also  to  mere  heedlessness.  The  careless 
disposition  of  burning  matches ;  the  indiscriminate  dis- 
posal of  cigar  and  cigarette  butts ;  leaving  movable  gas 
jets  lighted  near  the  wall  or  curtains ;  leaving  electric 
irons  with  current  turned  on  ;  investigating  gas  leaks  with 
burning  matches ;  cleaning  clothes  with  gasoline  or  ben- 
zine near  open  lights ;  using  electric  lights  wrapped  in 
clothes  as  warming  agents — are  but  a  few  of  the  almost 
countless  ways  in  which  this  ignorance  and  this  careless- 
ness manifest  themselves.  The  mere  accumulation  of 
inflammable  waste  is  an  act  of  culpable  negligence.  The 
obvious  remedy  for  this  important  source  of  fires  is  not 
legislation  but  education.  The  fire  prevention  authority 
of  the  city,  therefore,  whether  a  part  of  the  police  de- 
partment, or  of  the  fire  department,  or  a  separate  bureau, 
should  devote  a  large  amount  of  energy  to  a  campaign  of 
education  calculated  to  dispel  the  ignorance  that  exists 
with  regard. to  possible  fire  origin,  and  to  bring  home  by 
repeated  emphasis  the  need  of  reasonable  care  in  dealing 
with  possible  sources  of  fire.  The  best  place  to  begin  such 
a  campaign  of  education  and  publicity  is,  of  course,  in  the 
schools,  where  illustrated  lectures  and  moving  pictures  can 
be  used  to  advantage.  But  the  present  generation  of  adults 


56  MUNICIPAL    FUXCTIOXS 

is  quite  as  much  in  need  of  enlightenment  as  is  the  com- 
ing generation,  and  these  same  methods  should  be  em- 
ployed to  reach  the  grown  men  and  women  of  the  city. 
Leaflets  or  cards  containing  a  comprehensive  list  of  fun- 
damental "don'ts"  would  have  considerable  value  if  widely 
distributed.  This  educational  work  may  be  efifectively 
supplemented  and  vitalized  by  prohibiting  some  of  the 
most  obvious  and  avoidable  acts  of  carelessness  and  mak- 
ing their  commission  punishable.  Furthermore,  if  a  lia- 
bility in  damages  is  imposed  by  law  on  the  person  whose 
carelessness  causes  money  loss  to  his  neighbors  or  to  the 
city,  the  lessons  in  fire-prevention  will  be  more  likely  to  be 
remembered. 

There  are  other  causes  of  the  origin  of  fires  which  are 
not  so  directly  traceable  to  negligence  at  the  time  of  the 
fire  and  in  the  ordinary  activities  of  life.  Indeed,  they 
may  not  even  be  avoidable  by  the  occupant  of  the  prem- 
ises. Such  risk  must  be  avoided  by  governmental  action 
through  ordinances  and  inspection.  Among  these  causes 
may  be  enumerated  defective  electric  wiring,  either  de- 
fectively installed  or  subsequently  damaged  in  some  un- 
known way ;  defective  chimneys  and  flues ;  undiscovered 
leaks  in  gas  pipes;  instances  of  spontaneous  combustion, 
etc.  These  dangers  can  be  avoided  as  a  rule  only  by  hav- 
ing proper  ordinances  covering  the  wiring  and  piping 
of  houses  and  the  construction  of  flues,  and  by  frequent 
inspection  to  see,  not  merely  that  the  original  construction 
was  proper,  but  that  the  condition  at  all  times  is  safe. 
A  rather  recent  fire  risk  has  been  added  in  the  danger  of 
sewer  explosions  resulting  from  the  gasoline  and  oil 
wastes  from  garages.  It  has  been  found  necessary  to 
forbid  emptying  of  such  waste  into  the  sewers,  because 
of  the  danger  from  explosion  and  fire. 

It  must  be  pointed  out  that,  though  most  fires  originate 


PUBLIC   SAFETY  5Jr 

in  carelessness,  a  considerable  number  are  the  result  of 
positive  volition.  A  few  of  these  latter  can  be  attributed 
to  incendiarism  for  purposes  of  revenge,  but  they  are  rela- 
tively so  few  as  to  be  almost  negligible.  More  important 
by  far  are  the  fires  resulting  from  a  desire  to  collect  insur- 
ance. Such  fires  are  not  merely  criminal  in  that  they 
defraud  the  insurance  companies  and  through  them  all 
insurers,  but  also  in  that  they  set  agencies  into  motion 
which  may  get  beyond  control  and  cause  the  destruction 
of  property  beyond  that  owned  by  the  insured  as  well  as 
resulting  in  injury  and  loss  of  life  to  others.  Two  or 
three  steps  are  necessary  for  meeting  this  evil.  In  the 
first  place,  a  very  careful  system  of  investigating  the 
origin  of  fires  is  prerequisite  for  placing  responsibility. 
In  the  second  place,  very  severe  penalties  must  be  pro- 
vided and  strictly  applied  to  all  cases  of  willful  incen- 
diarism. In  the  third  place,  if  these  measures  are  not 
sufficient,  the  evil  must  be  combatted  by  removing  the  mo- 
tive for  such  fires.  If  the  owner  must  by  law  bear  a 
fourth  or  a  fifth  of  any  loss  that  occurs,  the  temptation 
to  sell  out  a  building  or  a  stock  of  goods  to  the  insur- 
ance company  is  largely  removed.  Such  a  legal  limitation 
would,  however,  seem  to  be  a  heroic  measure  of  last  re- 
sort, for  it  would  seem  unfair  and  contrary  to  public  pol- 
icy to  prevent  an  honest  property  owner  from  covering 
his  possessions  to  a  full,  fair  value  with  insurance  in 
order  to  keep  dishonest  owners  from  willfully  setting  fire 
to  their  property,  unless  that  should  prove  the  only  feas- 
ible way  of  remedying  the  situation. 

Fire  risk  due  to  negligence  or  even  maliciousness  or 
greed  will  probably  never  be  wholly  eliminated,  and,  of 
course,  unpreventable  fires  will  always  occur.  The  next 
important  consideration  after  preventing  as  far  as  possible 
their  occurrence  is  to  prevent  their  spreading  when  they 


58  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

do  occur.  In  the  matter  of  the  number  of  fires  that  orig- 
inate, European  cities  will  not  show  such  a  great  differ- 
ence from  American  cities.  In  the  proportion  of  fires, 
however,  that  become  serious  by  spreading  from  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  place  in  which  they  originated, 
the  record  of  American  cities  is  far  behind  that  of  Euro- 
pean cities.  This  fact  has  all  the  more  significance  when 
it  is  recalled  that  in  active  fire-fighting  apparatus,  such 
as  men,  engines,  high  pressure  streams,  etc.,  American 
cities  are  in  general  much  better  equipped.  This  phase 
of  fire  prevention  involves  almost  wholly  the  question 
of  building  construction,  and  demands,  therefore,  both 
careful  and  comprehensive  ordinances,  and  continuous, 
painstaking  inspection. 

The  prevention  of  the  spread  of  fires,  though  a  funda- 
mental question,  is  by  no  means  the  only  one  involved  in 
the  problem  of  building  regulation.  It  would  be  perfectly 
possible,  physically  speaking,  to  have  every  house  in  the 
city  so  built  both  within  and  without  as  to  make  the 
spread  of  fires  a  virtual  impossibility.  But,  as  a  matter 
of  policy,  that  would  be  an  extremely  unwise  measure, 
for  the  cost  of  such  construction  would  in  many  cases 
be  absolutely  prohibitive.  It  becomes,  therefore,  a  ques- 
tion of  relative  protection  against  fire.  Buildings  should 
be  made  as  fire-resisting  as  is  reasonably  possible,  and  on 
the  question  of  reasonableness,  of  course,  men  will  dis- 
agree. Other  considerations,  furthermore,  besides  the 
form  and  materials  of  construction,  play  an  important 
part  in  this  question.  The  proximity  of  the  buildings,  as 
well  as  the  uses  to  which  they  are  put,  must  be  taken  into 
consideration,  and  will  affect  the  kind  of  construction 
that  must  be  prescribed. 

In  American  cities  there  are  commonly  two  classes  of 
buildings  from  the  point  of  view  of  fire  risk,  those  within 


PUBLIC    SAFETY  59 

the  fire  limits  and  those  without.  The  former  class,  com- 
prising usually  all  those  within  the  more  densely  built- 
up  areas,  must  conform  to  certain  requirements  as  to  con- 
struction, while  the  buildings  in  the  rest  of  the  city  need 
not.  Since,  however,  the  conrlitions  as  to  congestion  and 
character  of  occupancy  differ  in  different  parts  of  the 
city,  it  is  neither  logical  nor  effective  to  divide  the  entire 
city  into  two  zones  simply.  Different  districts  of  the  city 
should  receive  separate  consideration  for  this  purpose, 
as  they  should  for  other  purposes  of  zoning. 

Regulations  intended  to  prevent  the  spread  of  conflag- 
rations within  buildings  look  generally  to  such  matters 
as  fireproof  or  fire-resisting  floors  and  partitions,  air-tight 
doors,  etc.  Safeguards  against  the  spread  of  fires  from 
other  buildings  look  particularly  to  the  construction  of 
roofs.  Wooden  shingles  on  roofs  are  a  continual  source 
of  danger  in  spreading  fires,  and  are  generally  prohibited 
within  the  fire  limits.  Experience  has  shown,  however, 
that  even  without  the  congested  areas  wood  shingles  are 
a  very  great  risk.  They  are  easily  carried  by  the  wind 
for  great  distances,  and  in  their  dry  state  on  the  roofs 
constitute  an  ideal  lodging  place  for  burning  particles  of 
all  kinds.  The  experience  of  American  cities  with  wooden 
shingles  as  a  means  of  spreading  fires  would  appear  to 
justify  the  prohibition  of  such  shingles  within  the  city 
entirely,  especially  as  artificial  shingles  of  fire-resisting 
materials  are  being  perfected  at  a  relatively  slight  increase 
in  cost. 

Another  means  of  preventing  the  spread  of  fires,  in- 
dependently of  the  activities  of  city  fire-fighting  forces, 
which  will  be  considered  directly,  are  the  requirements 
that  property  owners  provide  on  the  premises  various 
kinds  of  fire  extinguishers.  These  devices  include  all 
sorts  of  instrumentalities,  from  ordinary  hand-operated 


6o  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

chemical  extinguishers  to  standpipes  with  hose  attach- 
ments. Such  ready  instruments  can  frequently  extin- 
guish a  conflagration  in  its  inceptive  stages,  which  if 
left  untouched  until  even  the  most  rapid  fire-fighting  force 
could  arrive  on  the  scene  would  become  a  serious  fire. 
Certainly  the  cheaper  forms  of  hand  extinguishers  could 
reasonably  be  required  for  all  buildings,  whether  dwell- 
ings or  business  establishments.  In  large  buildings  and 
theaters  automatic  ceiling  sprinklers  are  proving  valu- 
able means  of  checking  fires  at  the  outset. 

So  far,  the  question  of  fire  protection  has  been  regarded 
in  its  relation  to  the  preservation  of  property  only. 
There  is,  however,  another  side  to  the  question,  and  that 
is  the  relation  to  human  life  and  physical  well  being. 
It  is  estimated  that  about  two  thousand  persons  annu- 
ally lose  their  lives  by  fire  in  the  United  States,  while 
three  or  four  times  that  number  are  seriously  injured  each 
year.  This  destruction  of  human  life  and  capacity  is 
nothing  short  of  criminal,  especially  as  proper  regulations 
can,  if  faithfully  enforced,  virtually  reduce  that  loss  to 
nil,  even  when  the  occurrence  of  fires  cannot  wholly  be 
prevented.  Crowded  tenements,  factories,  theaters  and 
more  recently,  especially,  moving  picture  theaters,  are 
among  the  places  that  take  the  largest  toll  in  lives  lost 
in  fires.  This  can  all  be  avoided  by  requiring  safeguards 
that  are  intended  primarily  to  insure  safety  of  egress  for 
persons  in  a  burning  building.  Fire  escapes  on  the  out- 
side as  well  as  concrete  stairways  on  the  inside,  wide 
passages,  doors  swinging  outward  and  kept  free  from 
obstructions,  prohibitions  on  obstructing  aisles,  asbestos 
curtains  kept  in  condition  for  instant  lowering,  location 
of  the  camera  room  outside  the  audience  hall  in  moving 
picture  theaters,  are  among  the  requirements  that  mod- 
em cities  are  enforcing  and  should  all  enforce  in  order  to 


PUBLIC   SAFETY  6i 

I 

reduce  the  danger  to  life  and  limb.  Wherever  large 
bodies  of  persons  are  crowded  together  there  is  espe- 
cial danger  to  life  from  fire  which  needs  to  be  specially 
guarded  against.  Such  regulations  belong  properly  in 
the  building  code,  which  should  deal  also  with  the  require- 
ments discussed  above  intended  to  prevent  the  destruc- 
tion of  property. 

Fire  prevention  is  making  some  progress  in  American 
cities,  but  unfortunately  it  is  sporadic  and  develops  usu- 
ally only  after  some  terrible  conflagration  or  holocaust 
has  stirred  up  the  public  consciousness.  As  a  regular 
part  of  a  normal  program  of  civic  improvement,  it  is  still 
comparatively  rare.  Yet  from  the  merely  materialistic 
point  of  view  of  money  cost  a  real  effective  system  of  fire 
prevention  should  appeal  to  the  taxpayer  as  a  saving  of 
dollars.  A  small  amount  of  money  spent  in  enforcing 
an  adequate  building  code  will  save  a  large  amount  of 
money  in  the  cost  of  the  fire  departments,  as  the  expe- 
rience of  European  cities  shows.  Besides  reducing  the 
cost  of  insurance,  it  would  also  save  the  money  loss  al- 
ways involved,  the  loss  of  wages  and  business  profits, 
while  the  destroyed  buildings  are  unavailable. 

Fire  prevention  in  the  broad  sense  considered  above, 
though  the  fundamental  and  most  important  phase  of 
public  safety  against  loss  of  life  and  property  by  fire,  is 
not  the  only  phase  of  fire  protection.  Even  with  great 
care  on  the  part  of  individuals,  and  with  adequate  fire 
codes  strictly  enforced,  some  fires  will  always  occur,  and 
there  must  be  some  fire-fighting  forces  and  apparatus. 
In  the  long  interval  that  will  unfortunately  elapse  until 
cities  and  individuals  wake  up  fully  to  their  duties  in 
the  matter  of  fire  prevention,  the  need  of  efficient  fire- 
fighting  forces  is  imperative. 

In  the  organization  of  municipal  fire  departments  there 


62  MUNICIPAL   FUNXTIONS 

are  two  considerations  of  equal  importance  that  must  be 
kept  in  mind.  One  is  the  equipment  in  men,  the  other 
is  the  technical  equipment  in  mechanical  appliances.  In 
both  respects  efficient  instruments  are  a  development  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  The  early  fire  brigades,  like 
the  citizen  watchmen,  were  loose  and  inefficient  instru- 
mentalities that  had  to  be  superseded  by  permanent  paid 
forces.  In  practically  all  large  cities  of  the  world  there 
are  regularly  paid  and  permanently  manned  fire-fighting 
forces.  In  the  smaller  cities,  the  tendency  is  to  avoid 
the  expense  involved  in  a  permanent  paid  department  by 
relying  on  the  services  of  volunteer  companies.  It  is  well 
to  point  out,  however,  that  in  this  field,  as  in  many  other 
branches  of  municipal  administration,  there  is  great  dan- 
ger of  a  false  economy.  The  salary  item  is  commonly 
regarded  as  an  element  of  clear  saving  when  volunteer 
organizations  are  relied  upon.  But  in  considering  the 
real  cost  of  a  volunteer  company  as  compared  with  a 
paid  force,  it  is  necessary  to  take  into  consideration  the 
greater  fire  loss  resulting  from  amateur  methods  em- 
ployed in  a  difficult  undertaking  requiring  skill  and  ex- 
perience, as  well  as  the  higher  insurance  rates  which  are 
paid  in  cities  where  volunteer  protection  is  relied  upon. 
If  a  careful  study  is  made  of  these  two  items  of  expense 
— and  they  are,  of  course,  borne  by  the  same  persons  who 
would  bear  the  increase  in  taxes  necessary  to  support 
a  paid  department— it  is  safe  to  say  that  in  many  cities 
now  practicing  the  economy  of  doing  without  a  paid  de- 
partment, the  apparent  saving  will  prove  to  be  an  actual 

loss. 

The  problem  of  organizing  the  fire-fighting  forces  of 
the  city  is  in  many  respects  similar  to  that  presented  by 
the  police  organization  previously  considered.  There  is 
a  similar  need  of  strict  discipline  and  concentration  of 


PUBLIC    SAFETY  63 

authority  that  require  a  single  head  and  a  quasi  iniHtary 
organization.  Many  of  the  considerations  that  appHed 
to  the  appointment,  disciplinary  control  and  manner  of 
removal  of  members  of  the  police  force  are  pertinent 
with  regard  to  the  fireman,  and  we  find  a  general  simi- 
larity in  their  treatment.  A  slightly  different  factor  is 
involved  in  the  question  of  hours  of  service,  however. 
Like  the  police  force,  the  fire-fighting  force  must  be  avail- 
able night  as  well  as  day,  even  to  the  necessity  of  a  larger 
force  at  night,  because  it  is  then  that  fires  are  more  likely 
to  become  serious  before  the  alarm  is  turned  in.  Unlike 
the  police  force,  however,  the  firemen  are  normally  ac- 
tually engaged  in  service  only  a  small  proportion  of  the 
time.  This  is  inevitably  the  case  because,  if  the  force 
is  to  be  adequate  for  coping  with  several  fires  at  once, 
a  contingency  that  frequently  arises,  or  to  handle  unusu- 
ally large  conflagrations,  it  will  obviously  be  considerably 
larger  than  is  required  for  the  ordinary  number  or  size 
of  fires.  In  view  of  this  fact,  cities  have  commonly  em- 
ployed a  relatively  small  force  of  men  and  have  required 
them  to  be  available  for  service  at  all  times,  providing 
living  quarters  in  the  stations.  Even  then  there  are  many 
hours  each  day  and  even  entire  days  in  which  the  firemen 
may  not  be  called  out,  followed  by  days  or  successions  of 
days  in  which  they  receive  almost  no  rest.  This  presents 
a  problem  of  administrative  efficiency  which  is  very  diffi- 
cult of  solution,  as  this  alternation  of  excessively  busy 
days  Avith  days  of  comparative  idleness  tends  to  demoral- 
ize a  working  force  of  any  kind.  In  some  cities  the  two- 
platoon  system,  similar  to  the  one  described  in  connec- 
tion with  the  police  force,  has  been  installed.  In  connec- 
tion with  the  fire  department,  it  has  the  drawback  not 
merely  of  greatly  increasing  the  cost  of  the  department, 
but,  also,  the  hours  of  idleness,  during  which,  however, 


64  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

the  men  can  get  no  real  recreation ;  whereas,  in  the  po- 
Hce  force,  a  patrolman  is  active  during  his  period  of 
duty  and  is  free  during  his  hours  off.  It  seems  that  a 
satisfactory  solution  of  this  difficulty  would  involve  not 
merely  a  larger  force  organized  on  the  two-platoon  sys- 
tem, but  also  the  employment  of  a  part  of  the  forces  on 
duty  in  other  work  for  the  city  which  would  not  prevent 
them  from  being  available  at  once  in  case  of  an  alarm. 
This  would  relieve  the  demoralizing  monotony  during  the 
hours  or  days  on  which  no  alarms  are  turned  in,  and 
would  tend  to  return  to  the  city  some  of  the  additional 
money  spent  for  the  larger  department.  The  chief  ob- 
stacle to  be  feared  in  any  such  arrangement  would 
probably  be  the  opposition  of  the  firemen  themselves,  who 
would  be  likely  to  look  upon  any  other  services  as  irksome 
or  even  degrading. 

The  fire-fighting  forces  are  not,  except  in  the  very 
smallest  cities,  concentrated  in  one  place,  but  are  dis- 
tributed in  different  portions  of  the  city,  with  reference 
to  ready  availability  for  all  parts  of  the  city.  Each  sta- 
tion serves  a  definite  district  for  ordinary  fires,  and  for 
larger  conflagrations  the  help  of  other  companies  is  en- 
listed, the  fire  chief  having  command  of  all  the  forces 
of  the  city. 

The  mechanical  aids  used  in  fire  fighting  embrace  in  all 
cases  an  adequate  water  supply,  pumping  engines  and 
hose  and  ladders.  The  necessity  of  a  sufficient  supply 
of  water  available  at  all  points  by  means  of  hydrants 
conveniently  placed  and  continuously  ready  for  immediate 
use  is,  of  course,  fundamental.  The  waterworks  them- 
selves should  be  absolutely  protected  against  destruction 
by  fire,  for  many  disastrous  conflagrations  have  been  the 
result  of  the  waterworks  being  put  out  of  commission 
at  the  outset,  when  located  in  the  fire  area.    As  the  or- 


PUBLIC    SAFETY  65 

dinary  water  pressure  maintained  in  city  mains  is  not 
sufficient  tb  throw  a  large  stream  of  water  with  much 
force  or  to  an  appreciable  height,  it  is  necessary  to  em- 
ploy engines  to  supply  the  pressure  at  the  hydrant  to  the 
hose.  These  engines,  at  first  operated  by  hand,  then  by 
steam,  were  until  recently  horse-drawn  vehicles.  In  re- 
cent years,  however,  the  motor-drawn  vehicle  is  rapidly 
supplanting  the  former  type  of  locomotion,  and  is  prov- 
ing in  every  respect  superior.  It  is  more  rapid  in  reach- 
ing the  fires,  less  dangerous  to  traffic,  and  presents  a  much 
simpler  problem  of  upkeep.  In  a  few  years  the  horse- 
drawn  engine  will  be  a  thing  of  the  past,  I-'or  incipient 
and  smaller  fires  the  chemical  engine,  sending  a  small 
stream  of  lic|uid  by  chemical  pressure,  proves  adequate 
and  less  destructive.  In  spite  of  the  generally  admirable 
equipment  of  American  fire-fighting  forces,  defective 
hose  has  been  an  all-too-common  and  very  serious  result 
of  graft  in  the  city's  contracting  or  purchasing  depart- 
ment. Even  where  the  best  hose  has  been  purchased, 
frequent  tests  are  necessary  to  insure  that  the  hose  will 
not  leak  or  burst  under  the  great  pressure  to  which  it  is 
subjected  when  in  use.  Long  extension  ladders  are  a 
necessary  part  of  the  equipment  of  every  force,  both  for 
reaching  the  fire  wnth  the  hose  and  for  saving  the  lives 
of  persons  imprisoned  in  burning  buildings.  These  facili- 
ties may  be  regarded  as  the  irreducible  minimum  for  every 
municipal  fire  department.  To  these  must  be  added  a 
fire  alarm  system  in  all  cities  covering  a  considerable  area. 
Other  aids  are,  however,  in  common  use,  especially  in 
the  larger  cities.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  special 
high-pressure  water  systems,  enabling  effective  streams 
to  be  thrown  directly  from  the  mains  without  the  aid  of 
fire  engine,  fire  boats  in  cities  located  on  bodies  of  water, 
and  water  towers   for  fighting  fires  in   high  buildings. 


66  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

These  are  all  expensive  elaborations  of  the  fire-fighting 
apparatus  necessitated,  however,  in  our  larger  cities  be- 
cause of  the  fire  hazards  that  are  allowed  to  remain. 
The  constant  occurrence  of  disastrous  fires  even  in  cities 
equipped  with  all  of  these  newest  developments  is  simply 
a  further  forceful  reminder  of  the  relative  inadequacy  of 
even  the  best  extinguishing  facilities  as  compared  with 
proper  preventive  measures. 

One  final  consideration  that  deserves  mention  is  the 
question  of  state  control  in  connection  with  the  municipal 
fire-fighting  forces.  In  continental  European  cities  there 
are  a  few  instances  of  state  control  of  fire  departments. 
In  England  the  fire  brigades  are  universally  under  local 
control,  and  in  the  United  States  there  are  but  a  few 
rare  instances  of  state-controlled  fire  forces.  It  is  obvious 
that  the  same  arguments  that  favor  a  measure  of  state 
control,  or  at  least  supervision  of  local  police  forces,  do 
not  apply  to  the  matter  of  fire-fighting  forces,  though  the 
latter  are  frequently  in  an  intimate  organic  connection 
with  the  former.  An  inefficient  city  police  force,  as  has 
been  pointed  out,  may  mean  a  non-enforcement  of  state 
laws.  An  inefficient  fire  department,  however,  is  a  mat- 
ter of  almost  purely  local  concern,  as  the  citizens  of  the 
municipality  are  the  sufferers,  though  in  France  and 
Germany  the  state  makes  it  mandatory  upon  the  cities 
to  provide  protection  against  fire.  A  state  fire-preven- 
tion bureau  would  prove  a  valuable  means  of  aiding  cities 
in  the  development  of  fire  prevention  methods  and  would 
prove  a  wise  measure  of  conservation  for  the  state  gov- 
ernment to  adopt,  as  has  already  been  done  by  some  of 
the  states  through  the  office  of  state  fire  marshal. 

The  two  great  factors  in  the  insurance  of  pubhc  safety 
which  have  been  considered  in  this  chapter,  namely,  police 
and  fire  protection,  together  with  the  public  health  ad- 


PUBLIC    SAFETY  67 

ministration,  which  will  be  taken  up  in  the  following 
chapter,  constitute  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the  field  of 
municipal  activities  connected  with  tiie  whole  subject  of 
public  safety.  It  must  not  be  overlooked,  however,  that 
there  are  still  other  phases  of  public  safety  which  can- 
not be  ignored,  but  which  are  not  properly  treated  under 
any  one  of  the  three  main  services  discussed  because  not 
intrusted,  in  this  country  at  least,  to  the  care  of  either  of 
the  three  departments.  So,  for  instance,  one  very  im- 
portant question  of  public  safety  in  our  cities  is  the  mat- 
ter of  grade  crossings  of  railroads.  Every  year  the  grade 
crossing  takes  its  large  toll  of  lives,  and  the  abolition 
of  this  danger  is  imperative  for  the  proper  execution  of 
the  duties  connected  with  public  safety.  Overhead  wires, 
both  of  street  railways  and  of  light  companies,  constitute 
another  menace  to  public  safety  that  modern  cities  must 
deal  with.  But  these  and  other  sources  of  danger  that 
might  be  mentioned  are  not  dealt  with,  in  American  cities 
at  any  rate,  through  the  police  department,  nor  intrusted 
to  a  special  department  of  public  safety.  They  can  best 
be  considered,  therefore,  in  some  other  connection  as,  for 
instance,  in  the  necessary  elements  of  control  over  public 
service  companies.  It  is  only  necessary,  therefore,  to 
point  out  here  that  they  fall,  functionally  speaking,  under 
the  activities  of  the  city  calculated  to  protect  the  public 
safety. 


CHAPTER   IH 


PUBLIC  HEALTH 


Functionally  considered  the  public  health  activities  of 
the  city  belong  to  the  activities  that  care  for  the  public 
safety.  Life  and  property  are  endangered  by  disease  and 
must  be  protected  against  willful  and  negligent  damage 
in  this  regard  as  well  as  in  any  other.  Public  health  pro- 
tection has,  however,  become  so  highly  specialized  and 
technical  and  is  so  different  in  its  methods  from  the 
other  measures  for  protecting  the  public  safety,  that  it  is 
almost  universally  treated  in  American  cities  as  a  sep- 
arate branch  of  municipal  administration,  v/ith  its  own 
organization  and  problems. 

In  one  respect  the  protection  of  public  health  may 
be  regarded  as  peculiarly  a  municipal  duty.  City  life, 
inherently,  is  much  more  dangerous  to  the  health  of  the 
individual  than  is  the  open  country,  for  he  is  so  much 
more  exposed  and  helpless  as  regards  dangers  arising 
from  the  acts  of  others.  Life  on  the  farm,  while  perhaps 
not  nearly  as  hygienic  as  it  should  be  and  could  easily  be 
made,  is,  nevertheless,  quite  different  in  this  respect  from 
city  life.  An  isolated  family  in  the  country  may  indeed 
endanger  its  own  existence  by  ignorance  and  carelessness 
in  matters  of  hygiene,  but,  generally  speaking,  it  is  nei- 
ther a  source  of  danger  to  other  families,  nor  is  it  sub- 

68 


PUBLIC   HEALTH  69 

ject  to  dangers  to  its  health  from  the  acts  of  such  other 
families.  In  fact,  many  acts  and  omissions  which  in  the 
country  have  little  or  no  element  of  danger  to  health 
become  in  the  city  very  serious  menaces,  not  only  to  those 
who  are  guilty  of  them,  but  to  a  very  large  number  of 
innocent  and  unprotected  persons  as  well.  If  city  life, 
therefore,  creates  and  increases  many  of  the  dangers  to 
public  health,  it  is  only  proper  that  the  city  should  take 
special  pains  to  meet  and  minimize  those  dangers. 

Unfortunately,  this  peculiar  obligation  of  the  city  as 
regards  the  protection  of  the  health  of  its  inhabitants  is 
one  that  received  but  tardy  recognition,  and  is  today  per- 
haps one  of  the  most  neglected  fields  of  public  activity, 
at  least  in  most  American  cities.  Practically  all  effective 
public  health  work  is  a  product  of  the  latter  part  of  the 
last  century,  and  the  most  effective  measures  are  the 
result  of  very  recent  years.  This  tardiness  in  attack- 
ing the  problems  of  public  health  administration  is  due, 
of  course,  primarily  to  the  fact  that  the  development  of 
sanitary  science  itself  is  such  a  comparatively  recent  mat- 
ter. Until  medical  science  had  discovered  the  causes  of 
the  diseases  which  made  the  urban  death  rate  so  aston- 
ishingly high,  little  progress  could  be  made  in  preventing 
them.  But  progress  in  public  health  protection  has  not 
by  any  means  kept  pace  with  the  progress  made  in  medi- 
cine. Long  after  the  causes  and  manner  of  transmission 
of  our  most  serious  diseases  were  well  established,  and 
it  was  no  longer  a  matter  of  doubt  as  to  how  they  might 
be  reduced,  health  departments  continued  to  ignore  the 
problem  of  prevention  and  contented  themselves  with  the 
abatement  of  nuisances  and  the  heroic  fighting  of  epi- 
demics that  might  Iiave  been  prevented.  The  keynote  of 
the  modern  city  health  program,  as  contrasted  with  that 
of  most  cities  up  to  the  present,  is  prevention.  Just  as 
6 


70  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

in  the  case  of  the  problem  of  fire  protection,  a  dollar  spent 
on  prevention  saving  many  dollars  needed  for  fighting 
fires,  so  in  the  case  of  the  public  health,  the  old  adage 
of  an  ounce  of  prevention  being  worth  a  pound  of  cure 
is  but  a  conservative  statement  of  a  very  evident  and 
convincing  truth. 

In  all  branches  of  health  activity  today,  therefore,  the 
element  of  prevention  should  receive  the  lion's  share  of 
attention.  The  problem  of  treating  and  curing  individual 
cases  of  sickness  is  in  reality  only  secondarily  a  problem 
of  health  administration,  for  that  is  left  largely  to  private 
physicians.  It  is  only  if  such  treatment  is  not  accorded 
that  the  case  presents  a  public  aspect,  either  because  of 
the  necessity  of  preventing  the  spread  of  contagious  dis- 
eases or  of  preserving  the  health  of  an  individual  who  is 
unable  to  provide  for  himself  the  necessary  medical  atten- 
tion. Most  of  the  space  devoted  to  the  consideration  of 
public  health  administration  in  this  chapter  will,  there- 
fore, be  taken  up  with  a  consideration  of  the  preventive 
activity  of  health  administration. 

Foremost  among  the  preventive  measures  that  must  be 
undertaken  by  every  city  health  authority  is  the  insur- 
ance of  the  purity  of  the  food  supply  of  the  city.  So 
much  sickness  and  death  is  directly  traceable  to  impure 
water,  milk,  and  other  foods,  that  the  purification  of  the 
food  supply  presents  at  once  one  of  the  most  stupendous 
and  promising  fields  of  preventive  endeavor.  Most  uni- 
versal and  absolutely  indispensable  among  human  foods 
is  water.  Unfortunately,  it  is  at  the  same  time  one  of  the 
most  easily  polluted,  and  when  polluted  one  of  the  most 
dangerous  of  human  necessities.  The  list  of  water-borne 
diseases  is  very  large,  but  foremost  among  them  must 
be  placed  that  terrible  scourge,  typhoid  fever.  So  gen- 
erally is  typhoid  fever  caused  by  impurities  in  the  drink- 


PUBLIC    HEALTH  71 

ing  water  that  the  condition  of  the  water  supply  of  a  city 
can  be  fairly  judged  by  the  number  of  typhoid  fever 
cases  that  exist. 

Water  in  its  ordinary  and  most  accessible  state,  that 
is,  in  watercourses  or  lakes,  is  almost  never  free  from 
disease  germs.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  human  wastes, 
the  harborers  of  typhoid  fever  and  intestinal  disease 
germs,  are  almost  always,  except  in  cities  having  sewer 
systems,  carried  ofif  by  surface  waters  into  streams  and 
lakes.  Even  city  sewer  systems  commonly  empty  into 
such  bodies  of  water  and  add  enormous  pollution  to  the 
water  which  may  be  used  by  other  cities  situated  below. 
Most  cities  are  dependent  for  their  water  supply  on  sur- 
face water,  as  wells  will  rarely  suffice  to  furnish  the 
water  needed  for  a  city.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  almost 
all  cities  are  in  danger  of  getting  polluted  water,  a  dan- 
ger which  the  city  itself  must  guard  against.  Purifica- 
tion of  the  supply  of  drinking  water  is,  consequently,  in 
most  cities  a  necessity,  and  becomes  increasingly  so  with 
the  increasing  density  of  population. 

The  various  methods  of  purifying  the  city's  water  sup- 
ply will  be  touched  upon  briefly  in  another  chapter.  It 
is  necessary  to  point  out  here  merely  that  the  first  step 
in  the  protection  of  the  public  against  impure  water  is 
the  careful,  frequent,  and  continuing  examination  of  the 
water  by  the  city  health  authorities.  The  presence  of  dis- 
ease germs  in  water  can  easily  be  discovered  by  proper 
scientific  tests,  which,  however,  demand  a  properly 
equipped  laboratory  and  an  expert  bacteriologist.  If  the 
water  supply  is  not  pure,  that  fact  can  be  discovered  at 
once  in  this  way,  and  the  users,  at  least,  be  warned  to 
purify  their  own  drinking  water  by  boiling,  if  the  city 
neglects  its  obligation  to  see  that  the  drinking  water  of 
its  citizens  is  pure.    This  would  seem  to  be  so  elemental 


72  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

and  necessary  a  means  of  protection  that  one  wonders 
how  any  city  can  be  without  it.  Yet,  even  of  the  larger 
cities,  only  comparatively  few  have  adequate  bacteriologi- 
cal examinations  of  the  water  supply. 

Disease  germs,  though  the  most  serious  menace  to  pub- 
lic health  lurking  in  the  water,  are  not  the  only  objec- 
tionable features  that  may  have  to  be  overcome.  Water 
bacteriologically  pure  may  be  chemically  injurious  and 
unfit  to  drink.  In  that  case  proper  measures  for  treat- 
ing the  water  from  that  point  of  view  must  be  employed. 
The  water  supply  may  also  be  objectionable  from  the 
point  of  view  of  use  for  domestic  or  industrial  pur- 
poses, but  so  far  as  it  does  not  contain  a  menace  to  the 
public  health  these  features  need  not  here  be  taken  into 
consideration. 

It  must  be  pointed  out  that  the  burden  of  purifying  a 
water  supply  is  sometimes  greatly  increased  for  a  city 
by  the  action  of  individuals  or  of  other  cities  over  which 
it  has  no  control.  One  of  the  commonest  sources  of 
pollution  of  a  city's  water  supply,  for  instance,  is  the  con  ■ 
tamination  resulting  from  the  emptying  of  sewage  by  an- 
other city  into  the  stream  or  body  of  water  from  which 
the  city  in  question  gets  its  supply ;  or  factories  may  be 
located  in  such  a  way  as  to  pollute  the  water  with  their 
wastes,  and  so  make  it  quite  unfit  for  drinking.  Obvi- 
ously, a  city  in  such  a  position  is  subjected  to  an  un- 
necessary and  unfair  hardship  with  which  it  is  unable 
to  deal.  In  such  cases  action  by  the  state  will  be  required 
to  protect  the  purity  of  water  supplies,  or  it  may  even 
be  that  federal  interference  will  be  necessary  where  the 
source  of  pollution  and  the  source  of  supply  are  in  dif- 
ferent states.  The  unfairness  of  the  extra  burden  im- 
posed in  this  way  is,  of  course,  a  good  ground  for  de- 
manding remedial  legislation  by  the  state,  but  it  does  not 


PUBLIC    HEALTH  jz 

in  any  way  absolve  the  locality  adversely  affected  from 
the  obligation  of  taking  the  necessary  steps  for  making 
the  water  fit  for  drinking  before  it  is  distributed  to  the 
citizens.  As  will  be  seen  later,  water  in  almost  any  con- 
dition can  be  purified  sufficiently  to  make  it  fit  for  con- 
sumption, though  the  financial  burden  may  have  been 
increased  unnecessarily. 

The  intimate  connection  between  the  water  supply  of 
the  city  and  the  health  of  its  inhabitants,  couj^led  with 
the  fact  that  negligence  in  management  of  the  health 
aspects  may  result  in  incalculable  disease  and  death,  has 
led  to  a  general  agreement  that  the  city  itself  should 
own  and  operate  tlie  public  water  supply.  Private  sources 
of  water  supply  were  formerly  common  both  in  this  coun- 
try and  in  Europe,  and  today  in  very  small  cities  water 
is  not  infrequently  supplied  by  private  corporations 
operating  under  a  franchise.  Usually,  however,  the  first 
utility  to  be  taken  over  by  a  city  when  it  begins  to  grow 
is  the  waterworks,  and  properly  so.  The  policy  of  mu- 
nicipal ownership  and  operation  of  the  waterworks  is, 
therefore,  a  sound  one,  quite  distinct  from  the  general 
policy  of  municipal  ownership  of  public  utilities,  which 
will  be  touched  upon  in  a  later  chapter. 

Next  to  water  the  article  of  most  universal  food  con- 
sumption in  cities  is  milk.  In  its  capacities  as  a  disease 
carrying  medium,  moreover,  milk  need  not  yield  even  to 
water.  The  ravages  of  milk-borne  diseases,  furthermore, 
are  most  terrible  among  infants,  the  most  helpless,  and 
yet  for  future  generations,  the  most  important  portion 
of  the  population.  Just  as  the  purity  of  a  city's  water 
supply  can  be  judged  by  the  cases  of  typhoid  and  other 
water-borne  diseases,  so  the  purity  of  the  milk  supply 
can  be  measured  by  the  infant  mortality  in  the  city.  In 
the  one  case,  as  in  the  other,  the  efficiency  of  the  health 


74  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

department  is  on  trial,  for  prevention   is  attainable  in 
both  cases. 

The  milk  problem  in  cities  is  complicated  by  the  fact 
that  the  source  of  supply,  that  is  the  dairy  herds,  are 
generally  outside  of  the  city  limits,  and  in  the  case  of 
large  cities  are  frequently  many  miles  away,  it  may  even 
be  in  another  state.  The  control  which  the  city  exercises 
over  the  production  of  milk  must  generally,  therefore,  be 
indirect.  That  is,  while  the  city  has  no  jurisdiction  to 
compel  inspection  of  milking  places  outside  its  limits,  it 
may  accomplish  the  same  results  by  forbidding  the  sale  of 
milk  in  the  city  unless  it  comes  from  inspected  places.  No 
milk  should  be  allowed  to  be  sold  in  the  city  without  a 
license,  and  the  issuance  and  continuance  of  a  Hcense 
should  be  dependent  upon  complying  with  all  the  condi- 
tions of  inspection  and  sanitation. 

The  journey  of  the  milk  from  the  cow  to  the  consumer 
is  fraught  with  more  pitfalls  and  dangers  to  the  public 
health  than  can  easily  be  imagined.  At  the  very  outset, 
the  condition  of  the  cow  herself  may  make  the  milk  a 
serious  menace  to  the  consumer.  Tubercular  cows  may 
transmit  the  terrible  white  plague  to  all  the  babies  that 
feed  on  their  milk.  Fortunately,  science  has  discovered 
a  simple  and  effective  tuberculin  test  for  determining 
whether  or  not  cattle  are  afflicted  with  the  disease.  Fre- 
quent and  careful  tests  are,  therefore,  demanded  even 
before  the  milk  is  drawn  from  the  cow.  These  must,  for 
absolute  security,  be  made  by  city  inspectors,  no  matter 
where  the  herd  may  be. 

Even  in  the  process  of  being  drawn  from  the  cow  the 
milk  is  in  the  greatest  danger  of  being  polluted.  From 
that  time  on,  however,  until  the  milk  is  actually  con- 
sumed, practically  all  dangers  to  public  health  can  be 
avoided  by  the  simple  observance  of  cleanliness.     The 


PUBLIC    HEALTH  75 

extreme  susceptibility  of  milk  to  dirt  and  filth  of  all 
kinds,  including  a  large  number  of  disease  germs,  can 
be  counterbalanced  only  by  extreme  cleanliness  in  the 
handling  of  the  product.  H  milking  machines  are  used, 
the  greatest  care  must  be  taken  to  see  that  they  are  ster- 
ilized, li  milking  is  done  by  hand  the  clothes  and  hands 
of  the  milkers  must  be  scrupulously  clean.  The  recep- 
tacles into  which  the  milk  is  put  must  be  thoroughly  ster- 
ilized and  protected  against  flies  and  dirt.  The  condition 
of  the  milkers  themselves  must  be  examined,  for  cases 
of  scarlet  fever  and  other  like  diseases  have  been  caused 
by  germs  introduced  into  the  milk  by  a  milker  who  was 
either  himself  afilicted  with  the  disease  or  was  a  carrier 
of  germs  from  some  member  of  his  family. 

The  rate  at  which  germs  multiply  in  warm  milk  makes 
it  necessary  to  cool  the  milk  at  once  after  milking,  and 
it  should  be  kept  at  a  temperature  of  not  more  than  50°  F. 
until  consumed,  in  order  to  retard  the  bacterial  multipli- 
cation. One  great  danger  arising  from  milk  that  has  to 
be  transported  a  considerable  distance  is  due  to  the  use 
of  dangerous  preservatives.  Formaldehyde  and  other 
dangerous  chemicals  are  commonly  used  as  preservatives 
in  milk  that  is  shipped  into  cities.  Inspection  of  the 
dairies  is.  therefore,  not  sufficient.  Watering  of  milk, 
more  serious  as  a  dangerous  means  of  unintentional  pol- 
lution than  as  a  species  of  intentional  fraud,  is  com- 
monly practiced  while  the  milk  is  cji  route  to  the  city 
or  on  the  delivery  wagon.  In  order  to  protect  the  con- 
sumer, therefore,  tests  must  be  made  of  the  milk  actually 
on  the  wagons  and  about  to  be  delivered  to  the  con- 
sumer. Such  tests  will  disclose  the  presence  of  chemi- 
cals, of  dirt,  and  of  disease  germs,  and  must  be  resorted 
to  almost  continually  if  they  are  to  furnish  anything  even 
approaching  an  adequate  safeguard  to  the  consumer.  The 


7^  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

strict  enforcement  of  the  sanitary  requirements  with 
regard  to  the  production  and  sale  of  milk  is  absolutely 
essential,  and  the  revocation  of  licenses  with  additional 
penalties  for  violating  the  ordinances  are  the  only  effec- 
tive measures  for  safeguarding  the  public  health. 

The  question  may  well  be  asked  whether  the  milk  sup- 
ply of  a  city  is  not  quite  as  proper  a  public  undertaking 
from  the  public  health  point  of  view  as  is  the  water  sup- 
ply. The  difficulties  of  inspection  and  enforcement  are 
very  great  and  the  expense  is  enormous,  while  the  results 
of  laxity  or  carelessness  on  the  part  of  the  health  de- 
partment are  appalling.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  that 
a  municipal  milk  supply  is  quite  as  logical  as  a  municipal 
water  supply.  Yet  such  an  undertaking  is  almost  un- 
known, though  some  cities  have  gone  so  far  as  to  in- 
stitute public  milk  stations  for  the  babies  of  the  poor, 
insuring  them  a  pure  supply  of  milk.  The  technical  dif- 
ficulties of  managing  a  dairy  farm  are  scarcely  greater 
than  are  those  of  administering  the  waterworks,  and  the 
improvement  of  the  public  health  would  be  quite  as 
marked.  That  may  be  looked  forward  to  as  one  of  the 
promising  developments  in  municipal  health  administra- 
tion in  the  near  future. 

The  ice  supply  assumes,  during  the  summer  especially, 
an  important  place  in  the  city's  food  economy,  and  has 
an  important  bearing  on  the  public  health.  In  the  first 
place,  the  ice  itself  is  used  in  water  and  other  beverages 
to  a  very  large  extent  in  the  United  States.  Such  ice 
is  frequently  natural  ice  cut  from  lakes  and  ponds  in 
the  winter  and  stored  in  ice  houses  until  needed.  The 
water  in  these  lakes  and  ponds  is  in  many  cases  unfit 
for  drinking,  and  yet  is  introduced  in  the  shape  of  ice 
into  the  beverages  and  there  melts,  polluting  the  drink, 
for  the  disease  germs  that  lurk  in  water  are  not  affected 


PUBLIC    HEALTH  Tj 

by  freezing,  but  simply  lie  dormant  ready  to  become  active 
as  soon  as  the  ice  again  melts.  Obviously,  it  is  futile 
to  guard  the  ordinary  water  supply  of  tiie  city  and  permit 
it  to  be  largely  polluted  in  the  summer  by  impure  ice. 
Inspection  of  all  sources  of  ice  whether  natural  or  arti- 
ficial is,  therefore,  a  necessary  part  of  safeguarding  the 
drinking  water  of  the  city.  But  ice  has  still  another  im- 
portant though  indirect  bearing  on  the  purity  of  the  city's 
food  supply.  Food  of  all  kinds,  and  especially  milk, 
becomes  unfit  for  consumption  very  rapidly  in  the  hot 
months  unless  kept  cool  by  means  of  ice.  This  is  true 
of  the  food  both  before  and  after  sale  to  the  consumer. 
If  milk  is  not  kept  cool  between  the  time  of  delivery 
and  the  time  of  consumption,  for  instance,  the  consumer 
may  suflfer  as  much  as  though  it  were  not  fit  for  drinking 
when  delivered.  In  the  case  of  the  poorer  classes  the 
cost  of  ice  may  be  prohibitive,  and  the  condition  of  their 
milk  and  food,  therefore,  be  a  menace  to  health  which 
they  are  unable  to  guard  against.  Regarded  merely  as 
a  protection  to  public  health,  therefore,  and  not  as  a 
measure  of  social  ajnelioration,  the  city  should  be  con- 
cerned in  seeing  not  only  that  ice  is  pure  but  also  that 
it  is  cheap.  Perhaps  the  best  way  of  accomplishing  that 
end,  too,  is  for  the  city  to  undertake  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  ice.  Such  projects  are  already  in  operation 
in  some  American  cities,  and  seem  to  be  gaining  in  popu- 
larity. They  seem  to  present  no  great  financial  difficul- 
ties, especially  where  they  can  be  combined  with  munic- 
ipal electric  light  plants,  as  an  economical  use  of  the  two 
plants  can  be  effected. 

The  meat  supply  of  the  city  presents  another  serious 
pure  food  problem.  The  condition  of  the  animals  that  are 
slaughtered,  the  handling  of  the  meat  from  the  slaughter 
house  to  the  market,  and  the  condition  of  the  markets 


78  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

themselves  all  present  numerous  possibilities  for  serving 
the  public  with  meat  that  is  not  fit  to  eat.    A  number  of 
very  serious  diseases  may  be  communicated  to  human 
beings  from  diseased  animals  that  have  been  slaughtered 
for  consumption.     Some  of  these  diseases  can  best  be 
detected  by  an  examination  of  the  animals  before  being 
slaughtered,  others  are  best  discovered  by  examining  the 
viscera  after  slaughtering  and  some  of  them  cannot  be 
discovered  at  all  by  inspection  of  the  meat  only  at  the 
meat  market.     In  addition  to  diseases  of   the  animals 
themselves,  the  meat  may  be  contaminated  by  dirt  and 
disease  germs  or  by  decomposition.     Cleanliness  in  the 
slaughter  house,  proper  dressing  and  cooling,  cold  stor- 
age facilities,  are  all  requisite  for  keeping  the  meat  fit 
to  eat  until  sold  to  the  consumer.     For  this  purpose,  in- 
spection at  all  stages  of  the  handling  is  necessary.     As 
in  the  case  of  the  milk  supply,  so  in  the  case  of  the  meat 
supply,  the  city  can  insist  upon  proper  inspection  of  ani- 
mals  slaughtered   outside   of   its   territorial   jurisdiction 
by  forbidding  the  sale  of  meat  except  under  a  license 
conditioned   upon    submission   to   adequate   examination 
in  the  entire  process  of  preparation.    A  large  force  of 
technical  inspectors  is  required  for  this  branch  of  the 
food  inspection  service  as  well  as  for  the  milk  inspection. 
Adulteration  by  preservatives  intended  to  retard  the  de- 
composition of  meat  is  a  serious  source  of  danger,  par- 
ticularly common  in  the  case  of  sausage  meat,  which  is 
frequently  quite  unfit   for  consumption.     The  condem- 
nation  and   destruction   of   unfit  meat   and   the   severe 
punishment  of  offenders  against  the  food  ordinances  are 
necessary  means  of  enforcing  the  requisite  protection. 
The  disgusting  and  insanitary  conditions  to  be  found 
existing  in  connection  with  most  slaughtering  establish- 
ments in  our  cities  have  already  led  a  few  progressive 


PUBLIC    HEALTH  79 

American  municipalities  to  establish  municipal  slaughter 
houses,  a  utility  that  has  for  a  long  time  been  the  object 
of  municipal  activity  in  many  European  cities.  The  sound 
reason  of  adec|uate  public  health  protection  is  as  applic- 
able here  as  in  the  case  of  the  water  and  milk  supply. 
With  the  public  health  consideration  primarily  in  view, 
it  becomes  a  matter  of  secondary  importance  whether  or 
not  the  undertaking  will  prove  commercially  profitable. 
That  a  municipal  slaughter  house  can  be  made  to  yield 
even  a  money  profit  has  been  demonstrated  by  cities  not 
only  in  Europe,  but  in  this  country  as  well,  but  as  com- 
pared with  the  protection  to  health  and  the  cleanliness 
afforded,  the  commercial  element  becomes  insignificant. 
As  well  might  one  stop  to  inquire  how  much  revenue  the 
city  obtains  from  its  police  department  before  agreeing 
to  establish  such  a  department,  if,  as  seems  to  be  the 
case,  the  adequate  control  of  the  meat  supply  from  a  sani- 
tary point  of  view  is  feasible  only  through  the  establish- 
ment of  municipal  slaughter  houses. 

All  of  the  other  articles  of  food  that  are  sold  in  the 
city  are  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  possible  sources  of 
danger  to  the  public  health.  Adulteration,  lack  of  clean- 
liness in  handling,  and  decomposition  are  contributing 
factors  in  making  the  food  supply  potentially  dangerous 
to  public  health.  Groceries,  bakeries,  public  eating  places, 
ice  cream  parlors,  are  all  possible  sources  of  sickness, 
which  need  to  be  regulated  and  inspected.  Municipal  mar- 
kets, a  very  old  municipal  activity  in  Europe  and  one  by  no 
means  unknown  in  American  cities,  though  to  a  much  less 
extent,  undoubtedly  present  an  advantage  from  the  pub- 
lic health  point  of  view.  It  seems  to  be  the  case,  however, 
that  the  sanitary  aspects  of  ordinary  market  wares  other 
than  meats  are  not  so  complicated,  and  the  danger  is  con- 
sequently less.     The  case  for  municipal  markets  would 


8o  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

seem,  therefore,  to  rest  more  largely  on  social  and  eco- 
nomic grounds,  and  to  fall  properly  under  another  head 
of  municipal  activity.  One  very  serious  menace  to  pub- 
lic health  through  the  food  supply  lurks  in  the  canned 
foods  that  are  so  generally  consumed.  These  foods  are 
prepared  outside  of  the  city  and  their  manner  of  prep- 
aration cannot  therefore  be  supervised  by  the  municipal 
health  authorities.  They  can,  however,  be  subjected  to 
frequent  inspection  by  samples  and,  by  throwing  the  loss 
of  the  condemnation  of  unfit  canned  goods  on  the  mer- 
chants handling  them,  their  interests  will  be  a  strong 
factor  in  demanding  proper  canned  articles.  It  is  not  safe 
either  in  this  case  or  in  the  case  of  dressed  meats  for 
cities  to  endanger  the  health  of  their  citizens  by  relying  on 
inspection  by  United  States  officials.  The  Pure  Food  and 
Drugs  Act  furnished  no  guarantee  against  unfit  canned 
goods,  and  government  inspection  of  meat  for  interstate 
shipment  has  not  prevented  doctored  meat  from  being 
shipped  and  sold.  Every  city  has  an  individual  obliga- 
tion to  take  all  possible  precautions  on  its  own  account. 

Next  to  the  insurance  of  a  safe  and  pure  food  supply 
for  the  city's  inhabitants,  perhaps  the  greatest  task  of 
the  city's  health  department  is  the  care  for  the  general 
sanitary  conditions  of  the  community.  Under  the  desig- 
nation of  the  abatement  of  nuisances,  local  authorities 
exercised  a  sort  of  sanitary  power  from  early  days.  But 
so  greatly  has  our  knowledge  of  the  intimate  connection 
between  dirt  and  disease  increased  in  recent  years,  that 
conditions  which  were  formerly  not  regarded  as  nuisances 
at  all,  and  so  were  permitted  to  continue,  or  that  were 
considered  as  nuisances  chiefly  because  they  were  objec- 
tionable to  the  smell,  are  now  attacked  as  being  abso- 
lutely incompatible  with  public  health  protection.  The 
fly,  for  instance,  which  was  long  popularly  regarded  as 


PUBLIC    HEALTH  8i 

a  nuisance,  is  now  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  serious 
of  menaces  to  public  health.  The  list  of  serious  diseases 
which  flies  are  today  known  to  carry  to  human  beings 
is  staggering,  and  every  modern  health  authority  makes 
one  of  its  first  undertakings  a  campaign  against  the  fly. 
The  manure  pile  or  rubbish  heap  which  formerly  offended 
merely  the  eye  or  the  nose  is  today  regarded  as  infinitely 
more  objectionable  because  it  is  the  breeding  place  of 
flies.  A  campaign  against  filth  and  dirt  in  the  city  is, 
therefore,  not  to  be  regarded  primarily  as  a  beauty  cam- 
paign, but  rather  as  a  health  campaign.  Tn  the  same  way, 
our  attitude  toward  the  mosquito  has  un'lcrgone  a  change. 
While  mosquitoes  have  always  been  regarded  as  nuisances 
and  pests,  cities  never  undertook  their  extermination  until 
medical  science  showed  that  yellow  fever,  malaria  and 
other  diseases  are  carried  by  mosquitoes  to  human  beings. 
We  know  today  that  malaria  is  communicated  from  one 
individual  to  another  solely  by  means  of  the  mosquito. 
\A'e  know  that  mosquitoes  breed  only  in  water,  and  that 
if  all  marshy  places  are  drained  or  oiled  and  all  recep- 
tacles in  which  water  collects  are  emptied,  screened,  or 
oiled,  mosquitoes  cannot  breed.  If  there  are  no  mos- 
quitoes there  is  no  infection  with  malaria.  Therefore, 
if  a  city  is  malaria  ridden,  we  no  longer  blame  the  cli- 
mate but  the  health  department.  Tin  cans  in  vacant  lots 
are  an  eyesore,  it  is  true,  but  much  more  serious  is  their 
character  as  mosquito  incubators. 

Flies  and  mosquitoes  are  not  the  only  animals  that 
are  known  to  endanger  public  health.  \'ermin  of  all 
kinds  are  the  products  of  filth,  and  filth  means  breeding 
places  for  germs  and  sickness  for  the  community.  Rat5 
have  long  been  known  to  transmit  bubonic  plague  by  the 
fleas  they  carry,  and  recently  they  are  being  charged  with 
other  serious  counts  of  a  like  nature.  -  Even   domestic 


82  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

animals  are  being  brought  under  the  ban,  as  science  dis- 
covers the  part  they  play  in  disease  transmission.  Cats 
are  now  regarded  sufficiently  dangerous  to  justify  health 
departments  in  issuing  warnings  with  regard  to  the  dan- 
gers to  children  from  these  household  pets.  Horses, 
cows  and  other  domestic  animals  are  coming  to  be  con- 
sidered unsafe  inhabitants  of  the  city  because  of  the  dif- 
ficulty of  dealing  with  their  manure.  The  supplanting  of 
the  horse  by  the  automobile  may  therefore  be  regarded 
as  a  fortunate  development  from  the  sanitary  point  of 
view,  as  well  as  from  the  point  of  view  of  street  paving 
and  cleaning  possibilities. 

In  general,  therefore,  it  may  be  seen  that  the  modern 
health  department  is  concerned  with  preaching  and  prac- 
ticing the  gospel  of  cleanliness.  In  all  that  belongs  to  the 
city  itself,  streets,  public  buildings,  parks,  etc.,  the  utmost 
cleanliness  should  be  observed  both  as  a  measure  of  pro- 
tection and  as  an  example  to  private  citizens.  Public 
service  corporations  and  individuals  should  be  held  up 
to  an  equally  high  standard  of  cleanliness.  If  that  is  done 
the  public  health  problem  has  been  enormously  simplified 
at  the  most  vital  and  effective  point.  A  very  fundamen- 
tal and  indispensable  part  of  this  work  of  the  health 
department  is  a  campaign  of  education.  The  most  ele- 
mentary facts  concerning  the  relation  of  dirt  to  disease 
are  still  wholly  unknown  to  the  great  mass  of  people,  and 
until  known  cannot  become  elTective  in  improving  condi- 
tions. Modern  health  departments  are  therefore  devoting 
a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the  problem  of  reaching  the 
mass  of  the  people  with  literature  containing  lessons  in 
hygiene,  both  personal  and  social. 

A  rather  recent  development  in  the  public  health  field 
has  been  the  effort  to  eliminate  unnecessary  noises  in  the 
city.     Medical  science  has  discovered  the  serious  conse- 


PUBLIC   HEALTH  83 

quences  that  may  result  from  uninterrupted  noises,  even 
for  people  who  are  well,  to  say  nothing  of  those  who  are 
sick.  Much  of  the  noise  of  the  city  is,  of  course,  inevi- 
table, but  it  is  astonishing  how  much  of  it  is  easily  avoid- 
able. By  prohibiting  unnecessary  noises  the  city  health 
authorities  are  contributing  directly  to  the  improved 
physical  condition  of  the  inhabitants.  Factory  whistles, 
railroad  whistles  and  bells,  hucksters  of  all  kinds,  organ 
grinders  and  other  disturbers  of  the  public  quiet  are  be- 
ing put  under  strict  regulation.  Even  roosters,  a  rural 
delight  all  too  frequently  injected  into  city  life,  must 
now  have  their  vocal  cords  cut  in  a  certain  progressive 
city.  The  elimination  of  these  and  other  wholly  unneces- 
sary noises  will  do  much  to  diminish  the  shattered  con- 
dition of  nerves  which  is  commonly  supposed  to  be  the 
inevitable  result  of  long  years  of  living  in  the  city. 

Pure  air,  one  of  the  most  fundamental  conditions  of 
physical  well  being,  is  much  more  largely  attainable  in 
our  cities  than  is  commonly  the  case  or  is  even  thought 
to  be  possible.  The  chief  sources  of  air  pollution  are 
the  dust  from  the  streets  and  the  smoke  from  chimneys. 
Street  cleaning,  therefore,  becomes  an  important  public 
health  function.  Tuberculosis  and  all  sorts  of  throat  and 
nose  troubles  are  spread  about  in  the  dust  flying  in 
city  streets.  This  danger  could,  it  is  true,  be  largely 
diminished  if  the  general  rules  regarding  expectoration 
were  enforced.  But  as  they  are  virtually  never  enforced, 
and  general  public  opinion  seems  to  countenance  their 
non-observance,  it  becomes  necessary  to  protect  the  pub- 
lic health  by  keeping  the  streets  clean  and  free  from  dust, 
an  expensive  but  simple  undertaking.  In  most  of  our 
industrial  cities,  and  all  cities  are  more  or  less  industrial, 
the  smoke  nuisance  is  a  very  serious  source  of  pollution 
of  the  air.     This  has  been  attacked   with  considerable 


84  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

success  by  some  cities,  but  in  the  majority  of  cases  it  is 
still  quite  neglected.  When  it  is  remembered  that  tuber- 
culosis demands  for  its  cure  fresh  air  treatment  in  pure 
air  and  that  the  vast  majority  of  persons  afflicted  with 
the  disease  are  unable  to  leave  the  city  for  treatment,  the 
significance  of  pure  air  in  our  cities  from  that  point  of 
view  alone  becomes  apparent. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  of  sanitary  problems  raised 
by  the  concentration  of  persons  in  cities  is  that  of  the 
disposal  of  human  wastes.  In  the  country  a  dry  closet  at 
a  distance  from  the  house  has  always  answered  all  pur- 
poses, though  even  there  disease  was  spread  by  this 
means  of  waste  disposal.  In  the  city,  however,  this 
primitive  method  of  sewage  disposal  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. It  was  practiced,  indeed,  for  many  centuries,  but 
that  was  before  the  dangers  to  public  health  involved  in 
that  method  of  dealing  with  the  problem  were  realized. 
Today  it  is  generally  recognized  that  the  existence  of 
dry  closets  in  a  city  is  an  evidence  of  medieval  health 
conceptions,  though  in  this  respect  the  cities  of  Europe 
are  even  more  backward  than  those  of  the  United  States. 
Cesspools  were  an  improvement  over  the  old  dry  closet, 
but  in  crowded  cities  they  were  also  objectionable  from 
every  point  of  view,  and  the  city  reahzed  the  necessity  of 
collecting  the  sewage  by  means  of  sanitary  sewer  sys- 
tems and  disposing  of  it  in  some  way.  The  different 
methods  of  sewage  disposal  and  some  of  the  considera- 
tions to  be  kept  in  mind  in  the  construction  of  a  sewer 
system  will  be  touched  upon  in  a  later  chapter.  Here 
it  is  desired  merely  to  point  out  that  a  city  which  does 
not  provide  and  compel  sewer  connection  in  every  house 
is  extremely  backward  in  one  important  phase  of  public 
health  activity. 

A  somewhat  similar  problem  is  raised  by  the  collec- 


PUBLIC    HEALTH  85 

tion  of  garbage,  that  is,  unused  food  remains  which  are 
thrown  out  by  householders.  They  not  only  become  ex- 
tremely objectionable  to  the  smell  but  offer  ideal  breed- 
ing places  for  flies  and  so  constitute  a  serious  source  of 
danger.  Their  collection  and  disposal  are  therefore  a 
necessary  municipal  activity,  though  in  most  cases  one 
that  is  not  properly  attended  to.  The  difficulties  involved 
in  the  collection  and  disposal  of  garbage  and  other  wastes 
are  primarily  of  an  engineering  and  financial  character, 
but  the  consequences  of  a  neglect  to  solve  them  properly 
make  themselves  felt  chiefly  in  the  domain  of  public 
health.  Their  importance  may  therefore  properly  be 
pointed  out  at  this  place  even  though  a  discussion  of  the 
best  manner  of  their  solution  arises  properly  under  the 
head  of  public  works. 

A  modern  development  of  the  greatest  nnportance  in 
the  field  of  public  h)giene  is  the  medical  inspection  of 
school  children.  This  is  not  merely  or  even  primarily 
for  the  purpose  of  detecting  contagious  diseases  among 
the  children,  though  in  that  regard  an  important  service 
is  performed,  but  rather  to  examine  their  general  physi- 
cal condition.  By  insisting  on  the  treatment  of  many 
minor  ills  that  result  in  undermined  health  later,  the 
physical  condition  of  the  next  generation  can  "be  greatly 
improved  at  the  outset,  thus  increasing  the  power  of  re- 
sistance to  disease  in  general.  Defective  teeth,  weak 
eyes,  infected  tonsils,  adenoids,  are  a  few  of  the  com- 
mon ailments  from  which  children  suft'er  and  which, 
if  not  attended  to,  are  the  cause  of  increasingly  impaired 
health  and  vitality  in  later  life.  To  look  after  these  ills 
is  therefore  the  part  of  wisdom  of  the  city  that  cares  for 
the  health  of  its  citizens,  present  and  future.  The  reme- 
dying of  the  ills  mentioned  has  a  great  educational  sig- 
nificance as  well,  for  the  retarding  eft'ect  of  such  defects 


86  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

on  the  mental  development  of  the  child  is  now  univer- 
sally recognized.  Fundamentally,  however,  it  is  a  prob- 
lem of  public  health,  and  should  be  envisaged  as  such, 
though  cooperation  by  the  school  department  and  assist- 
ance out  of  the  educational  fund  would  be  most  desir- 
able. 

But  the  public  health  activities  of  the  modern  city 
begin  even  farther  back  than  childhood.  They  reach  back 
to  the  infancy,  birth  and  even  prenatal  care  of  the  future 
citizen.  At  this  stage,  especially,  does  ignorance  throw 
a  blighting  curse  on  the  unborn  generations.  If  a  city 
health  department,  through  literature  and  visiting  nurses 
and  doctors,  instructs  the  prospective  mothers  in  the  most 
fundamental  facts  of  caring  for  themselves  during  preg- 
nancy, it  is  not  merely  the  health  of  the  mother  which 
is  safeguarded,  but,  what  is  even  more  important,  the 
unborn  child  starts  with  enormously  better  chances  of 
life  and  health.  In  the  same  way  at  childbirth,  not  only 
do  many  women  and  infants  die  unnecessarily  at  this  time, 
but  a  very  large  percentage  of  the  blindness  that  exists 
today  is  due  simply  to  the  failure  to  take  such  an  ele- 
mentary precaution  as  washing  the  infant's  eyes  out  with 
a  proper  solution  at  birth.  Then  after  that  period  is 
past,  the  first  year  of  the  infant's  life  is  attended  with 
more  danger  of  disease  and  death  than  is  any  subsequent 
year  until  old  age,  and  much  of  this  danger  can  be  avoided 
through  the  simplest  kinds  of  hygienic  precautions.  For 
the  large  portion  of  the  community  that  cannot  afford  to 
pay  for  the  services  of  a  good  private  doctor  or  nurse, 
it  is  essential  that  at  least  the  information  be  furnished 
them  which  will  enable  them  to  take  the  fundamental 
precautions,  and  when  medical  aid  is  necessary,  that  that 
aid  be  available.  Anything  less  than  that  would  place 
the  city  in  the   ridiculous  position   of  spending  a  great 


PUBLIC    HEALTH  87 

deal  of  money  each  year  in  dealing  with  sickness  which 
miglit  have  been  prevented  at  much  less  expense  if  dealt 
with  at  the  proper  time.  City  lying-in  hospitals  and  baby 
hospitals  are  therefore  not  to  be  regarded  as  primarily 
charitable  or  social  welfare  institutions,  but  as  means  of 
taking  precautions  against  future  sickness,  at  the  time 
when  such  precautions  count  for  the  most. 

The  treatment  of  contagious  diseases  was  one  of  the 
earliest  forms  of  public  health  activity  to  develop.  In- 
deed, it  was  the  decimating  epidemics  of  the  nineteenth 
century  which  were  directly  the  cause  of  the  establishment 
of  health  departments  in  our  larger  American  cities.  Now 
that  the  causes  and  means  of  transmission  of  so  many  epi- 
demic and  contagious  diseases  are  better  known,  the  fight 
against  epidemics  can  be  much  more  effectively  waged. 
Indeed,  a  good  part  of  the  preventive  work  which  has 
been  discussed  above  is  directed  against  epidemic  diseases. 
But,  in  addition  to  removing  the  fundamental  causes  of 
the  occurrence  of  such  diseases,  the  spread  of  individual 
cases  must  be  prevented.  This  requires  a  careful  system 
of  notification  of  all  cases  or  suspected  cases  of  conta- 
gious diseases  to  the  health  authorities,  isolation,  fumi- 
gation, and  other  methods  of  disinfection.  Where  the 
duty  of  placarding  houses  with  contagious  disease  signs 
is  imposed  upon  the  private  physicians,  experience  shows 
that  the  selfish  interests  of  the  physician  are  not  always 
the  same  as  the  larger  interests  of  the  community.  Even 
in  the  matter  of  keeping  cliildren  home  from  school, 
the  physicians  too  frequently  take  the  parents'  point  of 
view  instead  of  that  of  the  other  children.  Strict  penal- 
ties and  careful  inspection  by  the  health  officials  are 
necessary  to  enforce  this  obligation  of  the  attending  physi- 
cian. Every  city  should  have  an  isolation  hospital  for 
contagious  diseases,  because  many  cases  cannot  be  treated 


88  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

at  home  in  such  a  way  as  to  avoid  the  danger  of  spread- 
ing the  disease. 

In  the  protection  of  the  city  against  the  introduction 
of  contagious  diseases  from  the  outside,  the  city  should 
be  aided  by  state  law  and  state  officers.  With  the  enor- 
mous amount  of  traffic  coming  into  modern  cities,  effec- 
tive measures  of  quarantine  are  almost  impossible  with- 
out the  aid  of  state  action  in  the  district  from  which  the 
disease  is  likely  to  be  introduced.  At  the  same  time  the 
city  should  do  whatever  it  can  of  its  own  initiative  to 
guard  against  the  introduction  of  contagious  diseases 
from  the  outside.  Some  of  the  commonest  means  by 
which  contagious  or  infectious  diseases  are  spread 
about  in  the  city  are  laundries,  barber  shops,  public  wash 
rooms  and  public  drinking  cups.  Diseases  may  be  trans- 
mitted from  the  clothing  of  one  patron  of  the  washer- 
woman or  the  laundry  to  another,  or  may  be  communi- 
cated by  diseased  employees  themselves.  Various  skin 
and  blood  diseases  are  communicated  by  barbers'  imple- 
ments, and  the  same  is  true  both  of  the  public  towel 
and  the  public  drinking  cup.  Inspection  of  the  employees 
and  individual  treatment  of  the  clothes  can  minimize  the 
danger  from  laundries  and  washerwomen.  Sterilization 
of  towels,  razors,  strops,  and  brushes  can  be  insisted  upon 
in  the  barber  shops,  the  issuance  or  continuation  of  the 
license  being  made  dependent  upon  the  observance  of  the 
sanitary  requirements  prescribed.  Individual  towels  or 
paper  rolls  should  be  made  to  take  the  place  of  the  former 
common  towel,  and  the  sanitary  fountain  or  individual 
drinking  cup  are  in  all  modern  localities  supplanting  the 
former  insanitary  arrangements. 

All  of  these  various  activities  of  the  modern  health  de- 
partment are  but  a  partial  enumeration  of  the  matters 
that  fall  under  the  care  of  the  guardians  of  the  public 


PUBLIC    HEALTH  89 

healtli.  They  serve,  however,  to  indicate  the  wide  scope 
of  action  that  calls  for  attention  by  that  branch  of  the 
city's  administration.  Of  course  such  a  tremendous  un- 
dertaking requires  a  great  deal  of  money,  and  yet  muni- 
cipal health  departments  are  among  the  most  poorly 
supported  of  the  city's  activities.  The  returns  from  a 
well-directed  department  of  public  health  are,  of  course, 
not  easily  demonstrated  in  terms  of  dollars  and  cents. 
But  even  using  a  very  conservative,  albeit  materialistic, 
estimate  of  the  economic  cost  of  preventable  sickness 
and  death,  it  has  been  shown  that  the  annual  saving 
effected  by  proper  public  health  protection  will  in  every 
city  far  exceed  the  cost  of  maintaining  the  best  equipped 
and  operated  public  health  machinery.  Quite  apart, 
therefore,  from  the  sentimental  value  of  life  and  health, 
an  efficient  health  department  is  a  paying  proposition  from 
a  large  point  of  view.  The  failure  to  realize  this  fact 
is  perhaps  largely  responsible  for  the  difficulty  health 
departments  commonly  experience  in  securing  from  the 
city's  revenues  enough  money  to  carry  on  the  work 
properly. 

There  are  a  few  problems  of  organization  connected 
with  the  health  department  which  deserve  a  passing  men- 
tion because  they  are  intimately  connected  with  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  health  work.  Quite  generally  health  au- 
thorities in  American  cities  have  not  been  given  adequate 
powers  for  carrying  on  their  work.  Health  authorities 
which  merely  advise  but  cannot  determine  or  act  are  vir- 
tually useless.  The  determination  and  enforcement  of 
the  measures  necessary  for  safeguarding  the  public 
health  are  technical,  not  political,  considerations,  and  that 
determination  should  therefore  be  left  to  a  technical  and 
not  a  political  authority.  For  that  reason  the  sanitary 
regulations  of  the  city  should  be  issued  by  the  health 


90  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

authority,  not  by  the  representative  body.  For  the  same 
reason  the  health  authority  should  be  intrusted  to  a 
single  individual  or  small  executive  commission  instead 
of  to  a  large  board.  Lay  opinions  may  be  worth  receiv- 
ing at  times,  and  lay  advisory  members  may  profitably 
be  employed,  but  the  measures  to  be  adopted  for  meeting 
such  a  situation  as  arose  recently  in  New  York  City 
at  the  time  of  the  infantile  paralysis  epidemic  are  not 
a  proper  subject  for  lay  deliberation  and  determination. 
If  the  head  of  the  health  department  is  a  properly  trained 
sanitarian  he  is  much  more  to  be  trusted,  especially  in 
emergencies,  than  is  any  large  board  intended  to  be 
in  any  sense  representative.  Defective  organization  is 
certainly  in  part  responsible  for  the  inefficiency  of  many 
of  our  city  health  departments. 

Discipline  and  ascending  concentrated  responsibility  are 
most  necessary  for  the  effective  working  of  the  health 
authority.  Appointment  on  the  basis  of  merit  alone  is, 
of  course,  equally  desirable,  and  we  have  here  again 
the  problem  of  insuring  responsibility  and  power  to  the 
authority  in  charge  and  yet  limiting  his  discretion  so 
far  as  necessary  to  prevent  improper  use  of  his  powers 
of  administration.  Positions  in  the  city's  health  service 
are  for  the  most  part  of  a  nature  to  be  especially  adapted 
for  filling  by  competitive  civil  service  examination,  as  they 
are  of  a  technical  nature.  At  the  same  time  retention 
in  the  service  must  be  made  dependent  upon  prompt 
obedience,  an  absolute  essential  in  the  most  important 
emergencies  calling  for  action  by  the  health  authorities. 
Therefore,  the  power  of  discipline,  meaning  in  the  last 
analysis  the  power  of  dismissal,  must  be  intrusted  to  the 
responsible  head  of  the  health  department  with  large 
discretion. 

Another  question  arises  in  connection  with  the  relation 


PUBLIC    HEALTH  91 

of  local  health  authorities  to  the  state  health  department. 
It  is  clear  that  under  modern  circumstances  insanitary 
conditions  in  one  city  may  be  of  the  greatest  menace  to  a 
neighboring  city  unable  to  protect  itself  except  at  great 
and  unnecessary  expense  and  inconvenience.  For  that 
reason,  the  city  must  look  to  the  state  for  protection.  Cer- 
tain minimum  requirements  may  properly  be  prescribed 
by  the  state  for  all  cities  and  an  administrative  supervision 
exercised  by  the  state  over  the  local  authorities  charged 
with  carrying  the  provisions  into  effect.  In  European 
countries,  even  in  England,  the  local  health  administra- 
tion is  subjected  to  a  more  or  less  strict  supervision  by 
the  central  government.  The  same  safeguards  will  have 
to  be  introduced  in  this  country  if  cities  are  to  be  pro- 
tected against  dangers  to  public  health  arising  outside 
their  limits  and  not  under  their  control. 

It  would  not  do  to  leave  the  subject  of  public  health 
administration  without  dwelling  for  a  moment  on  the 
importance  of  keeping  careful  vital  statistics,  particularly 
birth  statistics  and  death  statistics  with  careful  statements 
of  the  causes  of  the  deaths  that  occur.  Without  such 
statistics  it  is  impossible  to  judge  of  the  sanitary  condi- 
tions of  the  city  and  to  discover  where  the  leakage  occurs. 
As  we  have  seen  above,  prevalence  of  typhoid  is  an  indica- 
tion of  impure  water,  a  high  infant  mortality  indicates  an 
impure  milk  supply,  malaria  shows  that  there  are  un- 
drained  places  or  other  mosquito  breeding  spots  not  cared 
for,  and  so  on  down  a  long  list  of  the  commonest  diseases. 
If,  however,  there  are  no  careful  records  of  such  diseases, 
the  symptoms  are  undiscovered  and  the  treatment  of  the 
conditions  cannot  follow.  As  the  vital  statistics  are  im- 
portant from  many  other  points  of  view  as  well,  it  seems 
proper  that  cities  should  be  required  by  state  law  to  keep 
vital  statistics  in  a  uniform  way  and  send  copies  of  the 


92  MUNICIPi^L   FUNCTIONS 

statements  to  the  state  health  authority.  In  this  regard 
the  cities  of  Europe  are  in  general  far  in  advance  of 
American  cities,  many  of  which  lack  even  the  begin- 
nings of  adequate  health  records.  Of  course  it  makes  lit- 
tle difference  whether  the  collection  of  these  statistics  is 
made  a  part  of  the  function  of  the  health  authority  or  of 
some  other  municipal  department  such  as  the  police,  for 
instance.  From  the  point  of  view  of  public  health  pro- 
tection it  is  certainly  important  that  in  some  manner  or 
other  they  be  collected. 


CHAPTER    IV 


PUBLIC    EDUCATION 


The  field  of  public  education  presents  one  of  the  few 
branches  of  municipal  activity  of  which  American  cities 
in  general  have  some  reason  to  be  proud.  Not  only  were 
American  cities  among  the  first  in  modern  times  to  pro- 
vide free  public  school  facilities,  but  from  the  point  of 
view  of  citizen  interest  and  support  and  the  ever  wider 
extension  of  the  public  school  facilities,  American  cities 
have  always  been  in  advance  of  those  of  England,  for 
instance,  which  in  so  many  other  respects  can  be  studied 
with  profit  by  our  municipalities  in  this  country. 

It  is  now  recognized  in  all  civilized  countries  that  it 
is  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the  state  to  sec 
that  opportunities  for  education  are  extended  to  all  the 
citizens  of  the  state.  From  the  beginning  of  the  recog- 
nition of  this  duty,  it  has  also  been  agreed  that  the  city 
represented  a  logical  unit  for  administering  this  func- 
tion, and  from  the  first,  therefore,  we  find  the  provision 
of  public  education  among  the  municipal  functions.  The 
machinery  employed  for  that  purpose  and  the  relation 
between  the  local  authorities  and  the  state  present  some 
interesting  variations  and  problems  which  will  be  touched 
upon  later  in  the  chapter,  in  considering  the  question  of 
organization.     For  the  present  it  is  intended  to  examine 

93 


94  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

into  the  character  of  the  education  which  the  city  is 
supposed  to  furnish. 

The  earHest  concepts  of  the  extent  of  free  pubHc  edu- 
cation included  merely  what  we  today  designate  as  ele- 
mentary education.  Generally  speaking,  this  concept 
involved  the  provision  of  free  schooling  for  children 
between  the  ages  of  six  and  fourteen  years.  This  is  also 
commonly  known  as  the  scholastic  age,  the  time  during 
which  attendance  at  these  free  schools  should  be  made 
compulsory.  Today,  however,  the  limits  within  which 
free  educational  opportunities  are  offered  to  children 
have  been  considerably  extended,  both  above  and  below 
the  earlier  periods.  Just  as  elementary  education  was 
formerly  left  to  private  or  church  endeavor,  so  after 
elementary  education,  in  the  sense  defined  above,  was 
assumed  by  the  cities  a  preliminary  educational  function 
was  developed  by  private  initiative.  This  was  the  so- 
called  kindergarten.  The  development  of  the  kinder- 
garten as  an  educational  agency  resulted  from  the  recog- 
nition of  the  fact  that  the  mental  and  physical  powers  of 
the  child  could  with  profit  be  trained  some  years  before 
the  age  at  which  children  were  expected  or  permitted 
to  enter  the  primary  grades.  Though  at  first  little  more 
than  day  nurseries,  these  kindergartens  gradually  devel- 
oped into  very  valuable  educational  agencies,  until  today 
it  is  recognized  that  the  child  who  has  had  two  or  even 
three  years  in  a  scientifically  conducted  kindergarten  is 
distinctly  more  advanced  and  mentally  capable  than  is 
the  same  child  entering  the  grades  without  any  prelim- 
inary training.  As  a  result  such  children  are  frequently 
able  to  shorten  the  period  of  elementary  training  without 
the  slightest  detriment  to  their  health.  With  the  recog- 
nition of  this  fact  came  the  realization  that  if  kinder- 
garten training  was  a  valuable  preliminary  to  the  ele- 


PUBLIC   EDUCATION  95 

mentary  grades,  it  was  the  business  of  the  city  to  make 
its  elementary  education  more  effective  by  providing  also 
for  this  preliminary  training.  Consequently  we  see  the 
movement  for  municipal  free  kindergartens  spreading 
from  city  to  city  until  it  may  be  hoped  that  every  city 
will  recognize  its  importance  in  the  educational  system 
of  the  community. 

At  the  other  end,  the  concept  of  what  public  educa- 
tion should  include  has  been  extended  in  almost  all 
American  cities  by  from  two  to  four  years  in  what  is 
commonly  called  the  public  high  school.  Thus  secondary 
education,  which,  until  comparatively  recent  times  in 
this  country,  has  been  pretty  largely  in  the  hands  of 
private  or  church  academies,  is  now  almost  universally 
regarded  as  a  part  of  the  free  public  school  system  which 
every  city  should  provide  for  its  children.  Furthermore, 
the  standard  four-year  high  school  has  already  in  some 
cities  been  extended  by  two  years  into  what  is  known 
as  the  junior  college,  offering  to  the  city  children  the 
educational  opportunities  of  the  first  two  years  in  col- 
lege. Indeed,  cities  have  not  stopped  there  in  their 
systems  of  schools.  In  New  York,  Cincinnati,  Akron, 
and  Toledo  we  find  cities  providing  full  collegiate  train- 
ing in  standard  colleges,  free  of  charge,  to  the  young 
men  and  women  of  the  city,  and  still  other  projects  for 
municipal  institutions  of  higher  learning  are  on  foot. 
Thus  we  see  that  modern  municipal  education  in  pro- 
gressive American  cities  extends  from  babyhood  to  man- 
hood and  womanhood. 

Not  only  are  the  benefits  of  general  schooling  so  well 
recognized  that  the  opportunties  for  at  least  the  elemen- 
tary grades  are  both  free  and  compulsory,  with  additional 
free  schools  of  higher  character,  but  even  free  textbooks 
and  free  lunches  are  being  furnished  in  a  number  of 


96  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

cities  in  order  to  diminish  the  financial  burden  imposed 
upon  the  poorer  classes  in  sending  their  children  to 
school.  Thereby  is  increased  the  extent  to  which  the 
educational  opportunities  of  the  city  can  be  taken  ad- 
vantage of,  especially  by  those  who  are  entirely  dependent 
upon  community  action  for  supplying  their  children  with 
such  opportunities. 

The  three  most  important  factors  in  providing  a  satis- 
factory public  school  system  for  a  city  are  a  proper 
curriculum,  an  efficient  teaching  force,  and  an  adequate 
physical  plant.  In  the  matter  of  adapting  the  school 
curriculum  to  meet  changing  needs  and  educational  con- 
cepts, local  educational  authorities  have  unfortunately 
aot  been  as  responsive  as  they  have  been  in  providing 
schools  and  teachers.  It  is,  perhaps,  especially  true  in 
educational  matters  that  what  has  been  is  likely  to  be 
regarded  as  therefore  correct  and  that  the  educational 
curriculum  which  the  school  authorities  themselves  knew 
and  grew  up  under  seems  to  them  naturally  the  proper 
thing  for  the  rising  generation.  The  changed  conditions 
of  modern  society,  as  well  as  the  development  of  the 
science  of  education,  have  wrought  such  changes,  how- 
ever, in  the  last  generation,  that  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
the  school  system  which  is  teaching  the  city  children  the 
same  things  in  the  same  way  as  it  taught  their  parents 
is  some  twenty  years  behind  the  times.  In  the  first  place, 
as  to  the  manner  of  instruction,  the  modern  school  no 
longer  overemphasizes  the  development  of  the  memory 
to  the  neglect  of  the  other  faculties.  On  the  contrary, 
powers  of  observation  and  powers  of  reasoning  are  the 
main  points  of  emphasis  today.  Memory  is  trained  as 
an  aid  to  the  other  capacities,  not  as  an  end  in  itself.  In 
the  second  place,  modern  education  is  beginning  to 
recognize  the  differences  between  children.     Most  adults 


PUBLIC    EDUCATION  97 

today  went  throujjh  schools  in  which  large  numhcrs  of 
children  were  treated  as  a  unit  supposed  to  represent 
the  hypotiietical  "average  child."  As  a  consequence  of 
this  the  children  who  were  not  up  to  this  standard,  which, 
it  may  be  pointed  out,  was  almost  always  much  nearei 
the  lowest  level  of  intelligence  in  the  class  than  the 
highest,  were  dragged  along  in  a  disheartening  struggle 
until  forced  to  drop  by  the  wayside  and  lose  an  entire 
year  in  going  over  the  work  again.  Exceptionally  capable 
children,  on  the  other  hand,  found  no  interest  or  in- 
centive in  the  slow  pace  at  which  things  were  going, 
and  not  only  wasted  many  precious  hours  of  time,  but 
fref|uently  developed  habits  of  indifference,  carelessness, 
and  indolence  which  handicapped  them  in  all  subsequent 
undertakings.  Today,  scientific  education  involves  the 
recognition  of  those  differences  among  children,  their 
examination,  and  a  treatment  that  takes  them  into  ac- 
count. The  subnormal  child,  for  instance,  which  for- 
merly presented  such  a  problem  to  the  teacher  of  a  large 
class,  can  today  be  discovered  by  scientific  tests  and 
be  especially  dealt  with,  to  the  great  advantage  of  him- 
self, the  teacher,  and  tlie  other  children.  Small  classes 
which  permit  individual  attention  to  the  children  and  a 
system  of  promotion  or  demotion  based  upon  graduated 
standards  of  ability,  instead  of  upon  arbitrary  divisions 
into  years,  are,  therefore,  earmarks  of  the  modern  school 
system. 

Along  with  the  fundamental  question  of  how  to  teach, 
arises  the  question  of  what  to  teach.  School  curricula 
are  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  without 
any  critical  examination  as  to  their  value  or  their  adap- 
tation to  human  needs  and  are  accepted  just  because 
they  have  been  used  for  years.  But,  as  was  suggested 
above,  the  fact  that  certain  subjects  have  always  been 


98  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

taught  in  schools  should  be  a  source  of  suspicion  rather 
than  a  recommendation,  for  the  origin  of  the  school 
curricula  in  common  use  today  dates  back  to  a  time  when 
industrial  and  economic  conditions  generally  were  wholly 
different  and  when  ideas  as  to  what  education  is  were 
quite  different  from  what  they  are  today.  A  modern 
school  curriculum  should  be  based  on  a  critical  exami- 
nation of  every  subject  included  and  no  subject  should 
be  admitted  which  cannot  be  shown  to  have  real  edu- 
cational value.  The  fundamental  three  "R's,"  reading, 
writing  and  arithmetic,  are  obviously  the  tools  of  all 
further  education  and  need  no  further  justification  for 
their  place  in  the  curriculum.  Beyond  that,  however, 
subjects  should  be  admitted  with  care  and  only  on  ex- 
amination. If  education  means  adaptability  to  surround- 
ings, and  it  should  mean  that  whatever  else  it  may  mean, 
then  a  knowledge  of  the  everyday  phenomena  of  nature, 
physiographical,  astronomical,  physical,  chemical,  bio- 
logical and  physiological,  taught,  not  as  abstract  sciences, 
but  as  pragmatic  experiences,  must  certainly  be  given  a 
place  in  the  curriculum. 

The  mind  is  not,  however,  the  only  attribute  which 
modern  education  seeks  to  develop.  The  body,  the 
dwelling  place  of  the  mind,  is  equally  important.  Physi- 
cal education,  therefore,  is  receiving  a  larger  and  larger 
part  in  the  educational  curriculum.  Not  only  does  the 
strengthening  of  the  body  react  favorably  on  the  health 
of  the  child,  but  the  amount  of  mental  development  that 
can  be  accomplished  is  actually  increased  when  periods 
of  study  are  interspersed  with  periods  of  play.  Carefully 
directed  and  supervised  play,  furthermore,  develops  the 
moral  nature  of  the  child  by  teaching  him  the  principles 
of  self-control,  fair  play,  and  sportsmanship.  This  moral 
nature  should  further  be  developed  by  instruction  in  the 


PUBLIC   EDUCATION  99 

principles  of  right  and  wrong,  particularly  social  ethics. 
It  is  one  of  the  indictments  against  democracy,  particu- 
larly American  democracy,  that  our  citizens  lack  the 
social  sense.  It  should  be  one  of  the  most  important 
functions  of  our  educational  system  to  teach  children 
respect  for  law  and  order,  the  subjection  of  the  indi- 
vidual to  the  welfare  of  society,  and  the  larger  social 
consciousness.  To  neglect  instruction  in  such  matters, 
commonly  termed  "civics"  in  the  inadecjuate  manner  in 
which  they  are  handled,  is  the  most  shortsighted  of  edu- 
cational policies.  Instruction  along  these  lines  should 
begin  at  the  very  beginning  and  run  through  the  entire 
curriculum  if  we  are  to  turn  out  promising  material  for 
the  making  of  good  future  citizens. 

Closely  connected  with  the  training  of  the  moral  and 
social  nature  of  the  child  should  be  the  development  of 
his  esthetic  faculties.  The  beautiful  in  literature,  art, 
and  music  should  be  brought  to  his  attention  and  his 
understanding  thereof  developed  in  a  vital  and  interest- 
ing way.  So  far  as  these  subjects  are  today  taught  in 
our  schools  they  are  all  too  commonly  handled  in  such 
a  way  as  to  kill  the  interest  of  the  child  rather  than  to 
stimulate  it.  Particularly  is  this  the  case  in  the  teaching 
of  literature,  where  pedantic  analysis  and  dry  dissection 
destroy  so  completely  the  beauty  of  the  subject  that 
most  children  develop  a  distaste  rather  than  a  liking  for 
the  masterpieces  of  writing. 

With  the  subjects  outlined  above  accorded  their  proper 
attention  it  will  be  found  that  the  broad  general  foun- 
dations of  an  education  will  have  been  laid.  Little  or 
no  time  will  be  left  for  the  monstrosities  of  present-day 
elementary  curricula,  grammar,  algebra,  geometry,  lan- 
guages, to  name  only  a  few. 

The  mistake  most  commonly  made  in  our  public  school 


loo  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

systems  is  to  continue  what  is  called  a  "liberal"  educa- 
tion beyond  the  time  when  it  has  ceased  to  be  the  kind 
of  education  most  needed.  Our  ordinary  high  school 
curricula  continue  this  same  kind  of  instruction  for  an- 
other four  years  after  the  elementary  grades,  in  apparent 
ignorance  of  the  fact  that  a  very  large  percentage  of 
school  children  do  not  go  through  the  high  school  at  all. 
largely  because  they  realize  that  the  high  school  train- 
ing will  help  but  little  in  the  struggle  for  a  living  upon 
which  many  of  them  must  enter  with  their  fifteenth 
or  sixteenth  year.  In  other  words,  there  are  two  sides 
to  education.  One,  which  has  aready  been  considered, 
is  the  general  adaptability  and  fitness  of  the  individual 
toward  his  surroundings,  the  other  is  the  special  training 
for  doing  the  particular  kind  of  work  in  the  world  upon 
which  the  individual  must  depend  for  a  livelihood.  Now 
the  children  that  finish  the  elementary  grades  are  com- 
monly without  the  slightest  kind  of  training  that  will 
specifically  aid  them  in  earning  a  living  at  some  par- 
ticular job.  And  yet  many  of  them  must,  from  economic 
necessity,  go  to  work  when,  they  graduate  from  the  ele- 
mentary school.  These  are  the  children  who  most  largely 
remain  in  the  city  in  which  they  live  and  become  perma- 
nent wage  earners  there.  Their  economic  welfare  is  there- 
fore a  matter  of  immediate  concern  to  the  city  and  this 
economic  welfare  is  dependent  largely  on  the  training  they 
have  received  for  earning  a  living.  Obviously,  then,  the 
entire  period  of  elementary  education  must  not  be  de- 
voted to  purely  "liberal"  subjects  or  subjects  developing 
a  general  adaptability ;  it  should  include  also  to  some 
extent  subjects  calculated  to  furnish  a  specific  adapta- 
bility for  a  particular  kind  of  economic  activity.  This 
is  the  much  discussed  problem  of  vocational  education. 
Some  recognition  of  this  principle  of  education  has 


PUBLIC    EDUCATION  loi 

been  accorded  in  recent  years  in  this  country  by  the 
introduction  of  courses  in  manual  training  and  domestic 
science  in  our  elementary  schools.  But,  for  the  most 
part,  the  work  has  partaken  but  little  of  the  character 
of  real  vocational  education  and  much  needs  to  be  done 
before  this  need  will  be  met.  The  characteristic  oppo- 
sition of  educational  authorities  to  these  so-called  "fads" 
has  prevented  even  this  modest  beginning  from  being 
everywhere  accomplished. 

Much  the  same  problem,  but  in  an  accentuated  degree, 
arises  in  connection  with  the  secondary  or  high  school 
curriculum.  If  it  is  true  that  only  a  portion  of  the  gradu- 
ates of  elementary  schools  go  on  to  the  high  schools, 
it  is  even  more  true  that  but  a  small  proportion  of  those 
who  enter  high  school  graduate  and  go  on  to  college. 
The  ordinary  age  of  graduation  from  high  school,  about 
eighteen  years,  marks  for  the  great  majority  of  boys,  at 
least,  the  time  at  which  they  must  cease  to  be  consumers 
merely  and  must  become  producers.  In  pathetic  blind- 
ness of  that  fact,  however,  our  high  schools  continue 
in  large  part  to  offer  only  training  which  is  of  greatest 
value  to  the  few  who  can  go  on  to  college.  This  myopia 
which  leads  our  school  authorities  to  shape  their  high 
school  curricula  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  few  instead 
of  tlie  many,  is  further  confirmed  by  the  pressure  from 
our  universities,  which  persist  in  regarding  the  high 
schools  as  primarily  feeding  institutions  for  the  colleges 
instead  of  training  schools  for  life  itself,  as  they  are  in 
large  part.  Vocational  training  in  the  secondary  schools 
should,  therefore,  be  the  chief  concern  instead  of  being 
a  minor  consideration,  as  it  is  now  even  in  the  most 
advanced  city  school  systems  of  this  country.  In  this 
matter  of  vocational  education  American  school  authori- 
ties have  much  to  learn  from  German  cities  which  have 


I02  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

attacked  the  problem  of  vocational  education  much 
more  successfully  than  is  the  case  in  the  United  States. 

One  traditional  weakness  in  our  American  school 
curriculum  is  now  being  partially  remedied  in  a  number 
of  cities,  that  weakness  being  the  long  summer  vacatioa 
The  almost  universal  practice  of  giving  a  three  months' 
vacation  during  the  summer  is  justifiable  from  no  point 
of  view.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  open  to  so  many  serious 
objections  that  one  wonders  how  it  could  have  been  re- 
tained as  a  feature  of  American  public  schools  during 
so  many  years.  In  the  first  place,  so  long  a  vacation  is 
quite  unnecessary.  Neither  teachers  nor  pupils  are  in 
need  of  so  long  a  rest  in  order  to  be  fit  for  a  new  year. 
As  far  as  the  pupils  are  concerned  the  results  are  most 
serious.  Not  only  is  all  that  time  wasted,  amounting 
every  three  years  to  the  equivalent  of  an  entire  scholastic 
year,  but  it  is  even  a  more  positive  detriment  in  that  the 
continuity  of  the  educational  program  is  so  largely  broken 
that  the  pupil  has  lost  many  of  the  threads  onto  which 
should  be  attached  the  teaching  of  the  subjects  in  the 
new  year.  Furthermore,  so  long  a  period  of  absolute 
idleness  engenders  in  many  children  a  more  or  less  pro- 
nounced disinclination  to  do  school  work,  which  inter- 
feres with  their  progress  upon  starting  in  again.  Finally, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  economy  in  the  use  of  public 
funds,  the  policy  of  long  summer  vacations  is  most  ex- 
travagant. Every  calendar  year  sees  the  expensive  city 
school  plant  lie  idle  an  entire  fourth  of  the  year  in  the 
summer,  not  counting  Saturdays,  Sundays,  and  other 
holidays  during  the  school  year.  This  is  a  point  which 
will  arise  again  in  connection  with  the  general  problem 
of  the  wider  use  of  the  school  plant,  to  be  considered  a 
little  later. 

The  evils  of  the  long  summer  vacation  have  led  a 


PUBLIC   EDUCATION  103 

number  of  cities  to  introduce  what  are  commonly  called 
vacation  or  summer  scliools  in  which  children  may  con- 
tinue their  studies  during  a  part  of  the  summer  and  so 
shorten  the  time  required  for  completing  their  course  of 
study.  This  is,  however,  only  a  partial  remedy,  for  in- 
struction is  not  ordinarily  given  in  all  subjects  and 
attendance  is  not  compulsory.  If  the  long  summer  vaca- 
tion presents  all  the  evils  mentioned  above  it  should  be 
discontinued  and  the  entire  school  year  lengthened.  One 
month  in  the  summer  is  all  that  is  required  for  purposes 
of  rest  and  recreation  and  would  lack  the  disadvantages 
enumerated  above.  This  lengthening  of  the  present 
school  year  by  two  months  would  mean  an  increase  of 
about  twenty-two  per  cent  in  the  teaching  period  each 
year.  In  other  words,  the  course  of  study  which  now 
normally  requires  twelve  years  in  the  elementary  and 
secondary  schools  could  be  completed  in  less  than  ten 
years  under  the  new  plan,  a  great  saving  for  the  child 
and  for  the  city.  The  additional  cost  per  pupil  involved 
in  paying  teachers  a  proportionately  larger  salary  for 
doing  two  months'  more  work  each  year  would  be  prac- 
tically offset  by  the  shorter  time  required  for  each  pupil 
to  complete  the  elementary  and  secondary  grades,  and 
the  overhead  charges  per  hour  of  instruction  for  equip- 
ment would,  as  has  been  seen,  be  greatly  reduced. 

The  second  essential  factor  in  an  efficient  school  sys- 
tem is  a  competent  teaching  staff.  Generally  speaking, 
the  assertion  may  be  made  that  our  public  school  teach- 
ers are  paid  far  too  little  to  secure  really  efficient  service. 
The  training  which  even  an  elementary  teacher  should 
receive  in  order  to  be  properly  fitted  for  the  work  is  so 
extended  that  it  represents  a  considerable  investment  of 
time  and  money.  If  that  fact  is  not  taken  into  consid- 
eration in  the  salaries  paid,  energetic  and  capable  per- 


I04  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

sons  will  not  be  encouraged  to  enter  upon  the-  work.  It 
is  true  that  the  character  of  teaching  work  offers  some 
special  attractions  to  those  interested  at  all  in  that  field 
which  will  serve  to  make  up  for  some  of  the  difference 
in  the  remuneration  paid  by  that  activity  as  compared 
with  other  possibilities  open  to  the  persons  who  would 
be  adapted  for  that  work.  But  where  the  difference  is 
too  marked,  the  result  of  paying  small  salaries  to  teach- 
ers is  that  most  capable  and  energetic  persons  feel  they 
cannot  afford  to  enter  that  field  of  work,  and  hence  in 
large  measure  it  is  only  persons  who  are  not  able  to  earn 
even  such  small  salaries  at  any  other  livelihood  who  are 
candidates  for  places  in  the  public  schools. 

One  result  of  the  low  salary  scale  has  been  the  all  but 
complete  displacement  of  men  by  women,  especially  in  the 
elementary  schools.  On  the  one  hand,  women  have  fewer 
opportunities  for  earning  a  living  in  other  professional 
fields  than  have  men,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  it  seems 
women  can  live  equally  respectably  on  less  money  than 
can  men.  Furthermore,  when  men  enter  the  teaching 
field  it  is  usually  with  the  idea  of  permanency,  for  a 
change  of  occupation  is  not  easy.  Many  women,  how- 
ever, consciously  enter  into  public  school  positions  with 
the  idea  and  hope  of  being  there  but  temporarily,  and 
the  record  of  women  teachers  who  marry  each  year 
shows  that  it  is  not  altogether  a  vain  hope.  Whatever 
may  be  thought  of  the  relative  fitness  of  men  and  women 
for  public  school  work,  everyone  is  agreed  that  it  is  un- 
desirable to  have  none  but  women  in  the  work,  and 
everyone  is  agreed  also  that  women  who  go  into  the 
work  with  no  idea  of  spending  their  lives  at  it,  but  merely 
as  a  convenient  place  to  wait  for  a  satisfactory  offer  in 
marriage  to  turn  up,  are  not  satisfactory  material  to 
make  school  faculties  out  of.    The  women  here  referred 


PUBLIC    EDUCATION  105 

to  are  those  who  look  forward  to  marriage  as  a  welcome 
release  from  teaching  school.  A  difficult  and  much  con- 
troverted question  is  raised  by  the  case  of  efficient  women 
who  wish  to  continue  teaching  after  getting  married.  A 
higher  scale  of  salaries,  with  stricter  requirements  as  to 
training,  would  tend  to  encourage  men  to  take  up  the 
work  and  would  prove  more  attractive  to  women  as  a 
permanent  rather  than  a  temporary  undertaking.  The 
wonder  is  that  with  our  present  salary  scale  we  have 
been  able  to  attract  so  many  good  teachers  as  are  now 
found  in  the  schools.  But  relative  good  fortune  in  the 
past  in  this  regard  is  no  justification  for  the  continuation 
of  a  policy  of  niggardliness  in  the  human  element  in 
our  education,  the  element  which  of  all  the  others  is  the 
most  influential. 

The  third  test  of  a  good  school  system  is  the  physical 
equipment.  If,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  school  build- 
ings are  ugly,  ill  lighted,  inadequately  heated,  and  im- 
properly ventilated,  with  poor  sanitary  facilities  and  no 
playgrounds,  the  attendance  of  children  at  the  schools 
may  be  a  positive  detriment  instead  of  a  benefit.  The 
city  must,  therefore,  be  willing  to  spend  the  necessary 
money  for  a  proper  physical  plant.  This  does  not  mean, 
however,  that  all  money  put  into  school  buildings  is  well 
spent,  a  warning  which  many  cities  need  to  heed.  Be- 
yond the  requirements  mentioned  above,  money  spent  in 
extravagant  buildings  may  be  all  wasted.  Changing 
educational  methods  require  changes  in  construction  and 
the  model  school  of  today  is  likely  to  be  obsolete  and 
largely  useless  in  twenty  years.  The  practice  of  build- 
ing monumental  high  schools  calculated  to  stand  as  a 
thing  of  beauty  for  many  generations  is,  therefore,  a 
mistaken  manifestation  of  civic  pride.  Handsome  as 
well  as  serviceable  all  school  buildings  should  be,  but 


io6  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

marble  columns  and  tile  corridors  are  not  proper  fittings 
for  buildings  which  it  would  otherwise  be  desirable  to 
discard  long  before  these  features  began  to  show  any  use. 

In  the  location  of  school  buildings  it  is  obvious  that 
considerations  of  convenience  only  should  govern.  That 
political  motives  have  often  played  a  part  in  their  loca- 
tion is  merely  evidence  of  the  fact  that  not  even  in  the 
educational  system  of  the  city  have  improper  politics 
been  wholly  eliminated. 

One  of  the  most  encouraging  developments  of  recent 
years  in  American  cities  has  been  the  movement  for  the 
wider  use  of  the  school  plant.  It  has  taken  a  long  time 
for  the  fact  to  be  realized  that  it  was  poor  economy  to 
leave  the  large  sums  of  money  invested  in  school  build- 
ings idle  so  large  a  portion  of  the  time.  ^Making  allow- 
ances for  summer  vacations  and  other  holidays,  besides 
Saturdays  and  Sundays,  the  school  buildings  of  a  com- 
munity are  normally  in  use  but  about  half  of  the  time 
during  the  year.  Furthermore,  the  daily  school  period 
rarely  covers  one-third  of  the  twenty-four  hours,  which 
means  that  the  actual  period  of  use  of  the  school  plant  is 
but  very  small  compared  to  the  time  during  which  it 
stands  absolutely  idle.  The  wider  use  of  the  school  plant 
involves  not  only  using  the  school  buildings  more  ex- 
tensively for  educational  purposes,  as  by  shortening  the 
vacation  period,  discussed  above,  and  night  schools, 
branch  libraries,  museums,  and  other  educational  agencies 
to  be  considered  later,  but  also  for  social  and  political 
purposes.  The  use  of  the  school  building  as  a  neighbor- 
hood house  for  gatherings  of  all  kinds  is  coming  to  be 
recognized  as  a  great  possible  means  of  social  improve- 
ment. Purely  social  meetings  serve  a  valuable  purpose 
in  developing  neighborhood  sentiment,  while  more  for- 
mal programs  present  the  possibility  of  public  discussion 


PUBLIC    EDUCATION  107 

of  live  local  political  questions.  The  only  additional 
expense  involved  in  thus  employing  the  sciiool  buildings 
for  valuable  social  services  is  the  cost  of  light  and  heat, 
janitor  service,  and  some  supervision,  preferably  by  an 
expert  full-time  secretary  for  that  purpose.  The  over- 
head charges  for  repair  and  depreciation  of  the  buildings 
as  well  as  interest  and  sinking  fund  on  the  money  in- 
vested are  not  increased,  but  are  relatively  diminished 
by  being  distributed  among  a  number  of  undertakings. 
So  the  use  of  school  buildings  as  polling  places,  a  com- 
mon practice  in  French  cities,  for  instance,  though  not 
a  strictly  educational  purpose,  nevertheless  by  saving  the 
cost  of  building  or  renting  special  polling  booths  reduces 
the  burden  upon  the  taxpayer  who  pays  for  school  build- 
ings and  polling  booths  alike.  Of  course  the  chief  jus- 
tification of  these  various  undertakings  that  center  in 
the  schoolhouse  is  not  primarily  that  they  make  use  of 
otherwise  idle  property,  but  because  they  serve  a  valu- 
able social  end.  But  the  fact  that  they  can  be  carried 
on  in  the  existing  plant,  and  even  make  the  schools 
themselves  nearer  and  dearer  to  the  mass  of  the  people, 
is  certainly  a  powerful  argument  in  their  favor. 

So  far  the  only  educational  facilities  of  the  city  that 
have  been  considered  are  the  regular  public  schools  in- 
tended for  the  children.  If  we  had  a  perfect  system  of 
public  schools  and  a  really  compulsory  attendance  by  all 
children  in  the  community,  and  if  our  cities  were  not 
continually  receiving  additions  to  their  population  from 
the  outside,  the  problem  of  public  education  would  be 
virtually  the  problem  of  the  public  school  for  children. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  neither  of  these  hypo- 
thetical conditions  exists  in  any  city.  No  city  has  such 
a  perfect  public  school  system  that  every  child  in  the 
community  receives  even  a  thorough  elementary  educa- 


io8  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

tion.  Nor  does  the  city  exist  which  does  not  receive 
each  year  into  its  midst  immigrants  from  other  places 
who  have  not  had  such  an  elementary  education.  There 
will  be  found  in  every  city,  therefore,  a  varying  number 
of  young  people  over  scholastic  age,  as  well  as  adults 
of  both  sexes,  who  are  without  even  an  approach  to  such 
a  thorough  elementary  education.  In  a  democracy  espe- 
cially, the  ignorant  adult  is  a  more  immediate  danger 
than  the  ignorant  child,  for  the  adult  male,  ordinarily 
at  least,  enjoys  the  right  of  a  voice  in  the  city  govern- 
ment whether  he  has  an  elementary  education  or  not ; 
indeed,  in  most  cases  in  the  United  States  whether  or 
not  he  can  even  read  and  write.  To  believe,  therefore, 
as  many  citizens  seem  to  believe,  that  the  problem  of 
public  education  is  met  in  a  community  when  the  chil- 
dren are  well  provided  for,  but  no  attention  is  paid  to 
the  uneducated  adults,  is  a  sad  shortsightedness  indeed. 
Obviously  the  problem  of  the  uneducated  adult  is 
quite  a  different  educational  problem  from  that  presented 
by  the  ordinary  public  school  system.  First  of  all,  there 
is  the  fact  that  the  adult  in  question  is  normally  a  wage 
earner  whose  days  are  occupied  in  earning  a  living. 
This  means,  of  course,  that  the  day  school  facilities  are 
useless  to  him,  even  if  the  methods  of  instruction  and 
the  subjects  taught  would  suit  his  case.  To  be  of  any 
help,  therefore,  such  school  facilities  as  are  offered  must 
be  offered  at  night.  Furthermore,  the  uneducated  adult 
presents  a  different  teaching  problem.  Instead  of  an 
alert  child  mind,  his  is  a  case  of  a  mature,  though  largely 
untrained,  intelligence  which  cannot  be  dealt  with  like 
that  of  a  child.  The  teachers  and  the  methods  and  in- 
struments of  instruction  must  therefore  be  different. 
Furthermore,  many  things  which  have  to  be  told  a  child 
in  school  to  prevent  his  learning  them  by  sad  experience 


PUBLIC    EDUCATION  109 

have  already  been  learned  by  the  adult  in  the  hard  school 
of  life.  The  subjects  taught  must,  therefore,  also  be 
different.  A  considerable  emphasis  must  be  placed  on 
teaching  those  things  which  will  be  of  the  most  imme- 
diate and  direct  benefit  to  the  man  and  woman  concerned 
in  the  business  of  earning  a  living  in  which  they  are 
engaged.  The  night  school,  although  an  integral  part 
of  the  school  system,  is  consequently  a  distinct  adminis- 
trative problem.  Of  course,  there  can  be  no  talk  of 
compulsory  attendance,  though  in  Germany,  for  instance, 
industrial  employers  are  compelled  to  afiford  their  young 
employees  opportunity  to  attend  the  regular  trade  and 
finishing  schools,  even  though  the  employees  are  beyond 
the  compulsory  school  age.  But  the  eagerness  of  workers 
to  take  advantage  of  opportunities  for  education  which 
they  feel  will  benefit  them  has  been  demonstrated  in  so 
many  places  where  night  schools  have  been  provided 
that  there  need  ordinarily  be  no  fear  of  a  lack  of  inter- 
est in  the  undertaking. 

Schools  of  these  various  types  are  undoubtedly  the 
most  important  educational  agencies  in  the  community. 
At  the  same  time  they  are  by  no  means  the  only  ones 
that  are  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  supported  by  the 
community  in  the  interests  of  raising  the  educational 
standard  therein.  Even  the  children  in  attendance  at  the 
schools  can  profit  by  a  number  of  these  other  agencies. 
But  more  valuable  still  is  their  influence  on  the  young 
people  and  adults  who  are  no  longer  in  school  or  perhaps 
have  never  been  to  school.  Chief  among  these  educa- 
tional opportunities  may  be  mentioned  the  public  library. 
American  cities,  in  general,  pride  themselves  on  their 
public  libraries  and  certainly  in  this  activity  the  record 
of  American  cities  compares  very  favorably  with  that 
of   European   cities.     The   Carnegie    library   movement 


no  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

particularly  has  given  a  great  impetus  to  the  building  of 
city  libraries.  The  benefits  derived  from  this  interest 
in  public  library  facilities  has  undoubtedly  been  great. 
At  the  same  time  the  educational  value  of^such  libraries 
has  frequently,  if  not  generally,  failed  to  attain  anything 
approaching  its  maximum.  The  reasons  for  this  failure 
are  manifold  and  cannot  all  be  considered  here.  The 
main  trouble  seems  to  be  in  the  failure  to  keep  in  mind 
what  class  of  people  are  in  greatest  need  of  the  library 
facilities  and  how  they  can  best  be  served.  Let  us  con- 
sider, for  instance,  the  matter  of  location.  In  a  very 
large  number  of  cities,  the  public  library,  or  the  main 
library  if  there  be  more  than  one,  is  located  near  the 
business  center  of  the  city.  Now  the  homes  of  the 
working  people,  who  constitute  the  class  in  the  com- 
munity for  whom  the  library  has  most  value,  are  rarely, 
if  ever,  near  the  business  center  of  the  city,  though  they 
may  frequently  be  right  in  the  industrial  section.  The 
consequence  is  that  that  class  of  people  have  frequently 
a  considerable  distance  to  go  from  their  homes  in  order 
to  enjoy  the  reading  room  facilities  of  the  library.  For 
the  man  or  woman  returning  home  from  a  hard  day's 
work,  the  physical  energy  necessary  to  walk  a  consider- 
able distance  is  commonly  lacking  and  the  expenditure 
of  street-car  fare  is  also  out  of  the  question.  That  man 
or  woman  is  therefore  deprived  of  the  opportunities  for 
reading  and  study  which  may  mean  so  much  to  him  or 
her.  The  obvious  solution  of  this  difficulty  lies  in  the 
location  of  branch  reading  rooms  which  are  convenient 
to  the  homes  of  that  class  of  people.  The  most  con- 
venient places  from  that  point  of  view  are,  or  should  be, 
the  school  buildings.  They  ofifer,  therefore,  at  once  a 
logical  opportunity  for  the  location  of  public  reading 
rooms.    This  not  only  saves  the  expense  of  building  or 


PUBLIC    EDUCATION  iii 

renting  special  branch  libraries,  but  uses  a  plant  which, 
as  has  been  seen,  lies  idle  much  too  great  a  part  of  the 
time  during  which  it  might  be  used.  The  use  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  school  building  for  public  library  purposes, 
being  a  distinctly  educational  use,  is  highly  proper  from 
every  point  of  view. 

Another  sad  mistake  that  is  frequently  made  in  the 
administration  of  the  public  library  is  in  the  hours  dur- 
ing which  it  is  kept  open.  A  ridiculous  practice,  which 
is  unfortunately  not  uncommon,  is  to  have  the  library 
open  only  during  the  hours  of  the  working  day,  from 
eight  or  nine  in  the  morning  to  five  or  six  in  the  evening. 
No  more  effective  blow  could  be  struck  against  the  use- 
fulness of  the  public  library  as  an  educational  agency 
than  to  adopt  such  hours.  Much  better  would  it  be 
from  the  educational  point  of  view  to  have  the  library 
closed  during  those  hours  and  to  have  them  open  from 
five  to  ten  at  night.  Then,  at  least,  the  persons  who 
work  all  day  and  cannot  afford  library  facilities  at  home 
and  feel  the  need  of  further  education  and  information 
in  their  work  can  enjoy  the  reading  room  facilities. 

Not  only  are  the  location  of  the  building  and  the  hours 
of  closing  frequently  unfavorable  to  the  widest  use  of 
the  library  as  an  educational  agency,  but  the  character 
of  the  reading  material  is  commonly  far  from  meeting 
the  educational  needs  of  the  community.  Libraries,  of 
course,  have  only  limited  funds  for  buying  books.  Libra- 
rians realize  that  their  funds  are  dependent  largely  on 
evidence  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  public  in  the 
literature  to  be  found  in  the  library.  Popularity  is. 
therefore,  inevitably  an  important  guide  in  the  selection 
of  books,  because  popular  books  swell  the  circulation 
and  reading  room  figures,  whether  the  books  are  of  any 
educational  value  or  not.    Indeed  they  may  even  be  posi- 


112  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

tively  detrimental  to  the  class  of  readers  who  use  them 
most.  So  it  happens  that  the  latest  fiction,  enthusias- 
tically devoured  by  high  school  girls  with  romantic 
tendencies,  finds  a  place  on  the  shelf  in  multiple  copies, 
while  reference  books  with  real  educational  value  are 
omitted  because  the  funds  do  not  suffice.  Little  wonder, 
then,  that  the  serious-minded  worker  who  is  led  to  be- 
lieve that  the  community  offers  him  opportunities  for 
education  in  the  public  library  so  frequently  finds  that 
his  case  is  not  the  one  for  which  the  librarian  or  the 
library  board  appear  to  show  any  interest. 

Finally,  even  when  location,  hours,  and  reading  ma- 
terial are  all  satisfactory,  it  is  necessary  to  adopt  some 
positive  measures  for  encouraging  the  poorer  element  in 
the  community  to  make  the  widest  possible  use  of  the 
library.  Many  of  them  would  never  learn  casually  that 
these  opportunities  exist,  others  are  backward  about 
entering  by  marble  stairways  in  their  workingmen's 
clothes  and  must  be  welcomed  and  made  to  feel  at  home, 
and  a  great  many  need  guidance  and  advice  as  to  how 
best  to  use  the  facilities  accorded  them.  Until  these 
considerations  are  given  far  greater  weight  than  they 
commonly  are  in  our  city  libraries  today,  it  is  idle  to 
point  with  pride  to  these  institutions  as  agencies  of 
popular  education. 

Next  to  libraries,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  potent  of 
educational  influences  is  the  museum.  Art  museums, 
natural  history  museums,  industrial  museums  can  all  be 
made  to  play  a  considerable  part  in  popular  education  if 
properly  equipped  and  administered.  Much  the  same 
considerations  come  into  play  here,  as  in  the  case  of 
libraries,  if  these  institutions  are  to  be  of  appreciable 
educational  value.  They  must  be  free,  open  to  the  public 
at  hours  when  the  majority  of  the  public  are  in  a  posi- 


PUBLIC    EDUCATION  113 

tion  to  visit  them,  and  made  as  intelligible  to  the  visitors 
as  possible.  For  school  children  these  museums  consti- 
tute a  valuable  supplement  to  the  classroom  work ;  for 
adults  they  are  the  means  of  opening  new  prospects  and 
even  visions.  Zoological  and  botanical  gardens  afford 
other  means  of  popular  education,  combining  outdoor 
recreation  with  opportunities  for  learning.  Although  not 
intrusted  to  the  educational  authorities  of  the  city,  all 
of  these  undertakings  may  properly  be  regarded  as  fur- 
thering the  same  general  objects  as  the  schools  and 
libraries. 

The  invention  and  perfection  of  the  moving  picture 
machine  has  opened  up  new  possibilities  of  popular  edu- 
cation combined  with  recreation.  Geography,  science 
and  invention,  natural  history,  sanitation,  are  now  all 
demonstrable  in  a  fascinating  way  through  the  moving 
picture  machine.  Fire  prevention,  first  aid  to  the  injured, 
the  care  of  infants,  can  be  taught  in  a  way  that  people 
are  eager  to  watch  through  the  cinematograph.  I\Iuch 
has  been  said  about  the  evil  influence  of  the  movies.  The 
possibilities  of  the  movies  for  good  are  just  as  great, 
and  the  city  that  neglects  this  means  of  entertaining, 
while  instructing,  its  citizens  is  neglecting  a  social  and 
moral  opportunity  as  well  as  an  educational  one.  Mu- 
nicipal movies  may,  therefore,  be  considered  today  as 
an  important  arm  of  the  educational  service  of  the  city. 
The  manifest  appropriateness  of  exhibiting  such  movies 
in  school  auditoriums,  when  not  in  the  open  in  school 
grounds  or  parks,  need  not  be  dwelt  upon  further,  in 
view  of  what  has  already  been  said  concerning  the  wider 
use  of  the  school  plant. 

Finally,  mention  may  be  made  of  public  entertainments 
of  other  kinds,  that  find  their  value  in  the  educational  as 
well  as  the  social  features  involved.     Music,  especially, 


114  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

may  be  made  a  means  of  popular  education  as  well  as 
of  popular  amusement.  Community  singing  is  coming 
to  be  recognized  as  valuable  both  as  a  means  of  educat- 
ing people  musically  and  of  engendering  democracy, 
sociability,  and  civic  solidarity.  Pageants  are  being  used 
in  many  cities  to  enlist  citizen  cooperation  in  developing 
civic  pride  and  traditions.  Open  air  concerts  in  the 
summer  and  in  school  buildings  or  municipal  auditoriums 
in  the  winter,  by  municipal  bands  and  orchestras,  have 
value  as  instruments  of  education  as  well  as  of  enter- 
tainment 

So  broad,  then,  are  the  educational  activities  of  the 
modern  city.  Small  wonder  that  their  administration 
presents  some  difficulties,  and,  indeed,  inefficiency  in 
administration  is  quite  as  frequently  the  cause  of  failure 
in  many  of  these  undertakings  as  is  the  lack  of  adequate 
money  for  their  support.  Education  is  one  of  the  hob- 
bies of  American  cities,  and  if  an  undertaking  can  be 
shown  to  have  real  value  as  an  instrument  of  popular 
education,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  usually  the  necessary 
moneys  will  be  voted.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to 
examine  briefly  what  some  of  the  administrative  prob- 
lems connected  with  public  education  are  and  how  they 
may  best  be  handled. 

To  begin  with,  it  may  be  stated  that  all  of  the  educa- 
tional activities  of  the  city,  as  well  as  those  which  are 
primarily  educational  in  character,  should  be  adminis- 
tered by  one  authority.  If  public  libraries,  for  instance, 
find  the  justification  for  their  establishment  and  support 
in  the  fact  that  they  are  agencies  of  popular  education, 
then  their  management  should  be  intrusted  to  the  edu- 
cational authority  of  the  city.  The  determination  of 
the  relative  amount  of  money  that  should  be  spent  on 
schools  and  public  libraries,  for  instance,  is  a  question 


PUBLIC   EDUCATION  115 

of  general  educational  policy  and,  therefore,  one  to 
be  determined  by  the  authorities  charged 'with  the  duty 
of  providing  for  pubhc  education  in  the  city  rather 
than  by  conflicting  interests  and  by  the  relative  amount 
of  political  influence  which  tvi^o  separate  authorities  may 
have  with  the  appropriating  power.  Furthermore,  as 
has  been  seen,  there  is  the  desirability  of  very  close 
cooperation  between  school  and  library  authorities  in 
using  the  same  buildings  and  other  equipment.  The 
maximum  of  effective  cooperation  is  attainable  only, 
however,  when  both  undertakings  are  under  the  same 
direction.  Much  the  same  may  be  said  of  museums  and 
other  undertakings  whose  principal  value  is  educational. 
In  spite  of  these  apparently  obvious  considerations,  we 
find  in  most  American  cities  the  spectacle  of  separate 
library  and  museum  boards  besides  the  regular  school 
authority,  and,  unfortunately,  instead  of  a  spirit  of 
hearty  cooperation,  in  some  instances  jealous  rivalry. 
Librarians  and  library  boards  would,  it  is  true,  object  to 
such  a  merger,  but  perhaps  their  objection  is  as  good 
evidence  as  might  be  needed  to  show  that  the  merger  is 
desirable. 

The  school  authorities  are,  therefore,  generally  not 
intrusted  with  the  management  of  these  other  educational 
agencies.  Furthermore,  the  school  authorities  themselves 
are,  in  the  United  States,  commonly  distinct  from  the 
rest  of  the  city  government.  Now,  it  is  true  that  the 
territorial  jurisdiction  of  the  school  authority  is  the  same 
as  that  of  the  city  government,  that  the  same  people  are 
served  by  the  activities  of  the  two  bodies,  and  that  the 
same  property  bears  the  common  burden  of  taxation.  It 
is,  therefore,  not  unnaturally  a  matter  of  surprise  tiiat 
distinct  governmental  and  administrative  authorities  are 
provided  for  this  one  branch  of  municipal  administra- 


Ii6  MUNICIPAL    FUNXTIONS 

tion.  The  explanation  of  this  situation  is  partly  his- 
torical and  partly  sentimental.  Historically,  the  origin 
of  separate  school  boards  for  educational  matters  was 
due  to  the  same  forces  which  created  separate  water 
boards,  health  boards,  police  and  fire  boards,  or,  when 
not  boards,  separate  commissioners.  Jacksonian  democ- 
racy, which  was  based  on  the  erroneous  notion  that 
popular  participation  in  government  increased  directly 
in  proportion  to  the  number  of  public  officers  to  be 
elected,  was  chiefly  responsible  for  the  separately  elected 
administrative  authorities  in  American  citie«.  That  is 
the  historical  reason  for  independently  elected  school 
boards.  We  have  fortunately  evolved  out  of  that  state 
of  political  fallacy  with  regard  to  the  general  principle 
involved  and  have  abolished  most  of  the  independently 
elected  administrative  boards  and  officers  in  our  most 
advanced  types  of  American  cities.  Why  has  the  inde- 
pendent school  board  so  generally  remained?  The  ex- 
planation of  this  fact  is  largely  sentimental.  As  has  been 
pointed  out,  our  public  schools  have  been  perhaps  the 
only  phase  of  our  municipal  administration  in  this  coun- 
try of  which  every  intelligent  man  did  not  need  to  be 
ashamed.  While  the  term  "city  council"  came  to  epito- 
mize everything  that  was  rotten  and  shameful  in  politics, 
our  school  boards,  serving  without  pay  as  a  general  rule, 
rendered  good  and  patriotic  service.  Of  course,  graft 
and  corruption  were  not  unknown  in  school  administra- 
tion, but  they  were  distinctly  not  the  general  thing,  and 
popular  indigiiation  could  usually  be  relied  upon  to  clean 
things  up  in  that  quarter.  Furthermore,  there  is,  per- 
haps, no  other  phase  of  municipal  administration  which 
is  of  such  immediate  and  vital  interest  to  so  many 
members  of  the  community  and  in  which  inefficiency  and 
corruption   are  so  likely   to  be  popularly    felt   and  de- 


PUBLIC   EDUCATION  117 

nounced  as  in  the  public  schools.  Inefficient  police  and 
fire  departments  injure  at  worst  only  a  relatively  small 
proportion  of  the  community.  Even  public  health  ad- 
ministration, which  is  more  universal  in  its  immediate 
contact  with  the  general  public  than  are  the  public 
schools,  is  not  understood  by  the  general  public  and  does 
not  make  nearly  the  same  personal  appeal.  In  view  of 
these  facts,  the  public  has  been  adverse  to  intrusting  the 
important  matter  of  public  schools  to  the  regular  organs 
of  city  government,  which  are  still  pretty  generally 
viewed  with  distrust.  So,  while  a  concentration  of 
almost  all  the  other  powers  and  functions  of  the  city 
under  the  regular  city  authorities,  especially  in  commis- 
sion government,  for  instance,  is  rapidly  coming  to  be 
the  rule,  there  seems  to  be  little  tendency  to  continue 
this  development  in  the  case  of  the  schools.  Now,  if  this 
process  of  concentration  is  a  good  thing,  and  all  stu- 
dents of  municipal  government  are  agreed  that  it  is,  then 
this  sentimental  aversion  to  intrusting  the  sacred  public 
schools  to  the  city  governing  authorities  should  not  be 
allowed  to  prevail.  The  fear,  of  course,  is  that  the 
school  administration  will  be  dragged  down  to  the  level 
of  municipal  politics.  May  it  not  just  as  well  be  antici- 
pated that  the  public  interest  in  schools  may  be  the  cause 
of  raising  the  level  of  municipal  politics  if  intrusted  to 
the  regular  city  authorities?  Even  were  it  true  that 
better  school  administration  can  be  attained  by  having  a 
separate  authority  on  which  public  attention  can  be  cen- 
tered, the  same  argument  would  lead  to  the  establishment 
of  a  separate  health  authority,  a  separate  police  and  fire 
authority,  a  separate  park  authority,  the  very  situation 
we  are  congratulating  ourselves  upon  just  escaping. 
Some  cities  have,  it  is  true,  carried  the  development  of 
recent  years  to  its  logical  conclusion  and  have  made  the 


ii8  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

school  authority  subordinate  to  the  regular  organs  of 
city  government.  There  seems  to  be  no  evidence  that 
the  prostitution  of  the  public  schools  for  political  pur- 
poses, which  was  so  generally  predicted  would  follow 
from  this  development,  has  actually  occurred. 

It  is  believed,  therefore,  that  the  administration  of 
public  education  in  cities  should  bear  a  relation  to  the 
city  government  as  a  whole  which  is  the  same  as  that 
found  in  the  case  of  the  health  department,  the  police 
and  fire  departments,  or  any  of  the  other  city's  adminis- 
trative departments,  though  this  is  not  the  common 
situation  in  the  United  States.  In  English  cities,  it  may 
be  said,  the  borough  council  is  the  educational  authority, 
acting  through  an  education  committee,  and  in  Prussian 
cities  the  regular  city  authorities  also  administer  local 
educational  matters  through  a  school  deputation  or  joint 
commission.  In  neither  of  these  countries  has  the  plan 
of  independently  elected  authorities  for  different  branches 
of  local  administration  been  in  vogue,  though  special 
boards  and  commissions  were  found  in  English  cities 
before  the  reform  of  municipal  corporations. 

The  next  question  that  arises  in  connection  with  the 
constitution  of  the  school  authority,  whether  independ- 
ently elected  or  appointed  by  the  organs  of  city  govern- 
ment, is  the  constantly  recurring  question  of  municipal 
administration  by  the  board  form  versus  the  single 
commissioner  form.  The  board  form,  it  may  be  said, 
is  so  general  as  to  be  clearly  predominant.  Where  the 
school  authority  is  an  independent  appropriating  and 
spending  authority  and  the  city  council  or  commission 
has  nothing  to  say  with  regard  to  expenditures,  much 
may  be  said  in  favor  of  the  board  organization.  The 
amount  of  money  which  a  community  wishes  to  spend 
on  public  education  and  the  apportionment  of  this  money 


PUBLIC   EDUCATION  119 

among  various  educational  agencies  is  a  question  of 
policy  which  the  educational  authority  should  determine 
in  accordance  with  community  sentiment.  A  board  is 
less  likely  to  be  swayed  by  the  individual  opinions  of 
members,  which,  because  likely  to  be  conflicting,  tend 
to  neutralize  each  other,  than  would  a  single  individual 
be.  Even  here  the  administrative  advantages  of  a  single 
instead  of  multiple  head  are  lost,  but  the  political  ad- 
vantages may  be  said  to  outweigh  the  disadvantages. 
Where  such  an  independent  board  exists  it  should  be 
small,  not  over  seven  or  nine  members  at  the  most,  and 
chosen  by  non-partisan  ballot  for  the  city  at  large  with 
long,  overlapping  terms.  Under  these  conditions  there 
is  the  greatest  likelihood  of  a  satisfactory  educational 
authority  being*  elected,  if  it  is  to  be  elected  at  all. 

If,  however,  instead  of  an  independently  elected  school 
authority,  the  administration  of  public  education  is  made/ 
a  coordinate  branch  of  tiie  city  government  with  the 
other  municipal  activities,  then  the  desirability  of  the 
board  form  of  organization  is  greatly  diminished.  If 
the  voting  of  moneys  and  the  large  questions  of  educa- 
tional policy  are  matters  left  ultimately  to  the  general 
representative  body  of  the  city,  then  the  need  for  an- 
other deliberative  body  would  seem  no  longer  to  exist. 
The  expert  information  and  knowledge  for  directing  the 
educational  work  of  the  city  is  not  supposed  to  be  found 
in  the  board  in  either  case,  but  in  the  city  superintendent 
of  public  instruction,  whose  function  will  be  considered 
in  a  moment.  Therefore,  the  approval  or  disapproval 
of  the  proposals  of  this  technical  professional  adminis- 
trator can  just  as  well  be  considered  by  the  general 
policy  determining  the  board  of  the  city,  that  is  the 
council  or  the  commission,  as  the  case  may  be.  Conse- 
quently, whether  the  appointment  of  the  school  authority 


I20  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

be  in  the  hands  of  the  mayor,  of  the  council,  of  the 
commission,  or  of  the  city  manager,  the  board  form 
should  be  superseded  by  the  single  commissioner  form, 
and  that  single  commissioner  should  be  the  expert  ad- 
ministrative head. 

Practically  every  city  has  a  chief  administrative  officer 
for  the  public  instruction,  commonly  called  a  city  super- 
intendent. He  is  the  technical  expert  who  not  only  attends 
to  the  details  of  administration,  but  also  outlines  general 
policies  for  adoption  by  the  board.  It  is  his  ability  and 
training  w^hich  determine  not  only  the  smooth  working 
of  the  machinery  of  the  public  school  system,  but  also 
its  responsiveness  to  developments  in  educational  ideas. 
He  chooses  the  teachers  and  supervises  their  work,  act- 
ing through  assistants  and  the  principals  of  the  various 
schools.  Ordinarily,  also,  he  is  charged  with  the  business 
end  of  school  management,  the  care  and  repair  of  build- 
ings, the  procuring  of  supplies  and  similar  matters.  The 
provision  of  new  buildings  is  ordinarily  attended  to  by 
the  board,  or  in  some  cases  by  a  special  authority  distinct 
from  the  regular  school  board. 

In  the  handling  of  the  personnel  of  the  teaching  staff, 
with  regard  to  appointments,  promotions  and  removals, 
the  general  principles  of  the  civil  service  merit  system 
seem  quite  applicable.  In  all  the  larger  cities  teachers 
are  appointed  upon  examination,  but,  generally  speaking, 
the  teaching  force  of  our  cities  has  not  been  subjected 
to  the  complete  civil  service  merit  regime.  Unless  it 
can  be  shown  that  there  is  less  danger  of  favoritism  in 
appointments,  promotions  and  removals  for  personal  or 
political  reasons  in  the  educational  service  of  the  city 
than  in  the  other  branches  of  activity,  there  would  seem 
to  be  the  same  necessity  for  protecting  the  service  against 
unfit  incumbents  and  for  protecting  competent  employees 


PUBLIC    EDUCATION  121 

from  unfair  treatment  or  discrimination,  as  exists  in  the 
other  branches  of  the  city  service. 

Though  the  duty  of  providing  pubHc  school  faciHties 
has  been  imposed  upon  cities  both  in  the  United  States 
and  in  Europe,  it  is  everywhere  recognized  that  the  city  is 
performing  what  might  be  called  a  distinctly  state  func- 
tion in  so  doing.  In  other  words,  it  could  never  be 
regarded  as  a  matter  of  relatively  little  importance  to 
the  state  whether  or  not  the  city  did  its  duty  in  providing 
free  public  education,  as,  for  instance,  it  is  a  matter  of 
relatively  little  interest  to  the  state  w^hcther  or  not  the 
streets  are  well  paved  in  a  given  city.  If  the  citizenship 
of  a  city  is  ignorant,  there  is  just  that  much  of  the  citi- 
zenship of  the  state  that  is  ignorant  and  the  state  suffers 
proportionately.  But  though  the  state  is  also  a  sufferer, 
the  city  itself  is  more  largely  affected  because  so  large 
a  proportion  of  the  children  born  in  the  city  remain 
there  throughout  their  lives  and  if  not  educated  compli- 
cate the  problem  of  government  for  the  city  itself  in  the 
greatest  degree.  For  that  reason  it  seems  proper  that 
the  city  should  be  charged  with  the  duty  of  providing 
the  educational  facilities.  On  the  other  hand,  the  mani- 
fest interest  of  the  state  would  make  it  desirable  that  the 
state  retain  some  control  over  educational  administration 
in  the  city,  and  that  it  contribute  something  toward  the 
expense  of  public  education  in  the  cities. 

In  Europe,  generally,  the  state  does  exercise  an  ad- 
ministrative jurisdiction  over  city  schools  and  does  con- 
tribute a  part  of  the  expense.  In  England  the  central 
Board  of  Education  has  a  very  considerable  control  over 
the  action  of  the  local  school  authorities.  In  Prussia 
the  central  control  is  even  more  minute,  and  in  France 
the  municipalities  have  almost  no  autonomy  in  school 
matters  at  all.     In  the  United  Staies,  on  the  other  hand. 


122  MUNICIPAL    FUXCTIOXS 

neither  state  aid  nor  state  control  is  the  rule.  Practically 
all  states  have  a  state  department  of  education  and  a 
state  superintendent,  but  their  powers  of  direction  and 
even  of  supervision,  particularly  over  city  schools,  are 
in  most  cases  insignificant.  Financial  aids  to  cities  for 
educational  purposes,  either  out  of  the  income  from  per- 
manent school  funds  or  by  appropriations  out  of  the 
state  revenues,  are  found  in  a  number  of  states,  it  is 
true,  but  they  are  not  the  general  rule  and  rarely  amount 
to  a  very  substantial  share  of  the  expenses  of  the  city 
for  schools.  In  the  interests  of  uniformity  in  the  mat- 
ter of  qualifications  and  salaries  for  teachers,  of  text- 
books and  of  curricula,  it  would  seem  highly  desirable  to 
extend  the  control  of  the  central  departments  over  city 
schools.  Here,  as  in  other  branches  of  municipal  ad- 
ministration, such  a  development  would  have  to  overcome 
the  opposition  of  those  persons  who  are  always  ready  to 
cry  "home  rule  and  freedom  from  state  interference," 
without  considering  that  the  city  is  in  large  measure 
properly  an  agency  for  carrying  out  state  functions 
within  its  territory. 


CHAPTER    V 


PUBLIC    MORALS 


It  was  pointed  out  in  the  chapter  on  police  adminis- 
tration, that  the  enforcement  of  regulations  in  the  interest 
of  safeguarding  public  morals,  whether  those  regulations 
are  passed  by  the  state  or  by  the  city,  is  intrusted  to  the 
police.  In  a  sense,  therefore,  this  chapter  contains  a 
continuation  of  the  subject  of  police  administration.  It 
was  pointed  out  also,  however,  that  the  enforcement  by 
the  city  police  of  standards  of  public  morals  enacted 
into  criminal  laws  and  ordinances  led  to  police  corrup- 
tion and  was  generally  undesirable.  In  European  cities 
it  was  shown  that  the  function  is  commonly  intrusted 
to  a  special  branch  of  the  police  service.  In  this  chapter, 
however,  we  shall  be  concerned  not  with  the  question  of 
the  instruments  or  means  of  enforcing  regulations  in  the 
interests  of  public  morals,  but  rather  with  an  examination 
of  what  is  meant  by  public  morals,  and  to  what  extent 
they  can  be  properly  regulated  by  law. 

What,  in  the  first  place,  is  meant  by  public  morals, 
and  how  do  oflFenses  against  morality  differ,  if  at  all, 
from  crimes  or  misdemeanors?  It  is  obvious  that  acts 
may  be  illegal  witiiout  being  in  any  sense  immoral.  For 
instance,  expectorating  upon  the  sidewalk  has  certainly 
nothing  inherently  immoral  in  it,  not  even  to  the  strictest 

123 


124  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

Puritan  conscience.  Out  in  the  open  country  expecto- 
rating on  the  ground  would  be  regarded  by  no  one  as 
morally  wrong,  but  medical  science  teaches  that  the 
sputum  contains  disease  germs  which  may  be  transmitted 
to  other  human  beings  when  ejected  upon  the  sidewalk. 
The  protection  of  public  health  demands  that  expecto- 
ration be  forbidden,  and  in  order  to  insure  the  observance 
of  that  prohibition,  a  penalty  is  attached  for  its  violation. 
This  provision  makes  expectorating  on  the  sidewalk 
illegal.  It  does  not,  of  course,  make  it  immoral.  On 
the  other  hand,  acts  may  be  immoral  without  being 
illegal.  To  lie  is  immoral,  but  mere  lying  is  not  made 
legally  punishable  except  under  certain  conditions.  Now 
there  is  a  tendency  in  America  to  try  to  make  all  im- 
moral acts  also  illegal  and  punishable  by  law.  The 
difficulty  with  this  undertaking  is  twofold.  In  the  first 
place,  it  is  impossible  to  carry  out  such  a  program  and 
to  enforce  such  regulations  with  regard  to  many  kinds 
of  immoral  acts.  The  shortcomings  of  the  human  ad- 
ministration of  justice  would  result  in  more  hardship 
than  deserved  punishment  in  many  cases.  In  the  second 
place,  people  are  by  no  means  agreed  as  to  what  is 
immoral.  Public  morality  is  largely  a  matter  of  bring- 
ing up  and  of  inherited  standards,  not  of  an  absolute 
and  generally  accepted  conviction.  In  the  last  analysis, 
standards  of  morals  are  determined  by  the  prevailing 
community  opinion.  We  regard  many  practices  as  im- 
moral in  the  United  States  which  are  not  so  regarded 
in  Europe,  for  instance.  Sunday  amusements  are  decried 
by  many  Americans,  while  in  Europe  they  are  regarded 
as  quite  proper.  Gambling  is  widely  denounced  as  a 
sin  in  the  United  States,  while  most  continental  Euro- 
pean countries  maintain  government  lotteries.  Monog- 
amy is  believed  to  be  the  truly  moral  marriage  relation 


PUBLIC    MORALS  125 

in  Christian  countries,  while  Mohammedan  countries  be- 
lieve in  plural  marriages.  Almost  as  great  differences 
of  opinion  exist  within  the  boundaries  of  the  United 
States,  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  our  population  is 
made  up  in  good  part  of  people  who  were  brought  up 
under  European  standards  of  conduct. 

If  the  standard  of  morals  differs,  then,  for  different 
communities,  it  seems  to  follow  that  the  determination 
of  whether  a  given  act  shall  be  regarded  as  immoral  and 
detrimental  to  the  public  welfare,  and  so  be  forbidden, 
should  be  determined  by  the  community  itself,  within 
the  limits  of  controversial  matters  at  any  rate.  Murder, 
stealing,  and  all  the  offenses  against  person  and  property 
are  made  punishable,  not  because  they  are  immoral,  but 
because  they  are  anti-social.  Whether  a  given  act  shall 
be  considered  not  only  immoral  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  individual,  but  also  anti-social  from  the  point  of 
view  of  society  as  a  whole,  is  the  problem  of  so-called 
morals  legislation.  In  a  democracy,  where  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  law  is  intrusted  to  local  judges  and  juries, 
it  is  obvious  that  such  legislation  cannot  be  enforced  in 
a  community  where  the  prevailing  opinion  regards  the 
act  made  punishable  as  neither  immoral  nor  anti-social. 
For  that  reason,  also,  morals  legislation  is  properly  a 
local  matter. 

Now,  the  controversial  subjects  that  today  come  under 
the  head  of  morals  legislation  are  Sunday  amusements, 
gambling,  drinking  and  sometimes  even  smoking,  and 
various  manifestations  of  sexual  immorality,  culminat- 
ing in  prostitution.  Though  all  of  these  subjects  fall 
under  the  one  general  head  and  do  present  certain  aspects 
in  common,  the  governmental  phases  are  sufficiently  dif- 
ferent to  warrant  their  being  briefly  considered  seriatim. 

The  regulation  of  Sunday  amusements  is,  perhaps,  one 


126  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

of  the  best  illustrations  of  the  objections  inherently 
involved  in  trying  to  impose  standards  of  conduct  upon 
communities  by  general  law  which  are  not  accepted  by 
the  majority  of  people  in  the  community  in  which  they 
are  to  be  enforced.  Sunday  observance  is  in  reality  a 
question  of  religious  belief,  not  of  morals  at  all.  The 
traditional  American  attitude  toward  Sunday  amuse- 
ments is  an  inheritance  from  the  puritanical  Sabbath  of 
England.  As  all  worldly  pleasures  were  considered 
wicked  to  a  varying  degree,  it  was  natural  that  pleasures 
on  Sunday  should  be  regarded  as  especially  of  the  devil. 
Our  New  England  colonies,  therefore,  had  very  strict 
laws  with  regard  to  Sunday  observance  which  were 
strictly  enforced.  As  long  as  the  prevailing  community 
standards  approved  not  only  of  this  conception  of  Sun- 
day, but  also  of  imposing  it  on  all  inhabitants  by  law, 
there  was  no  objection  to  their  enforcement,  in  spite  of 
the  obvious  discrepancy  involved  in  the  early  declara- 
tions in  favor  of  personal  and  religious  liberty  and  the 
enactment  of  such  regulations  upon  the  statute  books. 
The  influence  of  New  England  ideas  in  this  regard  ex- 
tended pretty  generally  over  the  entire  country  until 
comparatively  recent  times.  But,  partly  due  to  changing 
conceptions  of  the  relation  of  man  to  the  Sabbath  on  the 
part  of  native  Americans,  partly  due  to  the  influx  of 
many  thousands  of  persons  from  other  countries  where 
Sunday  was  considered  a  day  of  recreation  and  pleasure 
rather  than  one  on  which  all  pleasure  and  enjoyment 
were  sinful,  the  prevailing  opinion  in  many  communities 
with  regard  to  Sunday  observance  came  to  be  quite  dif- 
ferent from  the  original  puritanical  American  conception. 
Obviously  this  is  essentially  a  matter  which  each  com- 
munity should  determine  for  itself,  since  it  is  a  question 
of    religious    practices    and    standards.      For   the    rural 


PUBLIC   MORALS  127 

element  of  the  state,  for  instance,  to  lay  down  laws 
governing  the  action  of  city  dwellers  in  such  matters  is 
clearly  opposed  to  every  concejition  of  local  autonomy 
that  can  be  imagined.  Experience  bears  out  this  theo- 
retical contention.  Attempts  by  state  legislatures  to 
impose  upon  cities,  particularly  upon  cosmopolitan  cities, 
standards  of  Sunday  observance  which  do  not  appeal 
to  the  prevailing  community  opinion  have  too  often 
proved  abortive  to  leave  any  doubt  on  that  score.  If  it 
is  contrary  to  the  fundamental  ideas  of  personal  and 
religious  liberty  to  impose  standards  of  Sunday  observ- 
ance upon  communities  which  do  not  subscribe  to  them, 
there  is  also  a  limit  l)fyond  which  even  the  majority  in 
a  given  community  should  not  go  in  a  matter  of  this 
kind,  which,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  is  a  matter  of 
religious  conviction.  Everyone  should  be  permitted  to 
observe  the  Sabbath  in  his  own  way,  provided  his  man- 
ner of  observance  does  not  interfere  with  a  like  privilege 
on  the  part  of  others.  It  is  just  as  indefensible  to  forbid 
enjoyments  on  Sunday  which  do  not  interfere  with  the 
religious  worship  and  the  possibility  of  quiet  for  others 
who  desire  to  spend  Sunday  in  that  way,  as  it  would  be 
to  compel  attendance  at  religious  services.  The  proper 
limits  of  Sunday  regulation  would  therefore  seem  to  be 
such  measures  as  are  necessary  to  insure  to  those  desir- 
ing it  the  opportunity  for  undisturbed  worship  and  for 
rest  and  quiet  during  the  day.  Those  are,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  principles  which  determine  the  regulations 
concerning  Sunday  observance  in  European  countries, 
which  make  no  such  loud  boasts  of  individual  and  re- 
ligious liberty  as  we  do  in  the  United  States.  The 
adoption  of  those  principles  in  the  United  States  would, 
it  is  believed,  tend  to  make  Sunday  for  many  thousands 
of  persons  a  day  of  mental  and  physical  recreation  as 


128  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

well  as  a  day  of  worship.     The  idea  that  prohibiting 
amusements  on 'Sunday  tends  to  increase  attendance  at 
divine  worship  would   seem  to  rest  on  the   supposition 
that  people  go  to  church  only  because  they  have  nothing 
else  to  do,  as  a  sort  of  break  in  the  monotony  of  the 
day.     It  is  extremely  unlikely  that  the  number  of  that 
kind  of  churchgoers  is  very  large,  or  that  the  benefit 
they  derive  from  attending  divine  worship  in  that  spirit 
is  sufficiently  great  to  interfere  with  the  liberty  of  the 
many  who  see  nothing  incompatible  in  attending  worship 
and  deriving  pleasure  from  the  rest  of  the  day  as  well. 
This  view  of  public  policy  with  regard  to  the  prohibition 
of  amusements  on  Sunday  is  not,  of  course,  intended  to 
deny  the  importance  of  insuring  one  day  of  rest  in  every 
seven  to  the  working  population.    Such  a  compulsory  day 
of  rest  is  a  measure  of  economic  and  social  necessity. 
In  considering  the  subject  of  gambling  and  the  rela- 
tion of  the  governmental  authority  to  it,  we  begin  to 
leave  the  field  of  religious   opinion  and  enter  that  of 
public  policy,  though  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
chief  agitation  against  gambling  comes  from  people  who 
see  something  sinful  in  a  personal  way  in  indulging  in 
that  fairly  universal  instinct,  the  gaming  instinct.     Quite 
apart  from  any  religious  convictions,  however,  moralists 
generally   are   agreed  that   indulgence   in   the  gambling 
instinct  is  degenerating  and,  in  the  long  run,  destructive, 
and  that  it  is  the  business  of  the  government  to  prohibit 
it  in  the  interest  of  the  individuals  themselves,  much  as 
opium  smoking  is  forbidden  as  a  demoralizing  practice 
certain  to  disqualify  the  individual  from  performing  his 
proper  function  in  society.     So  general  is  this  agreement 
in  the  United  States  as  to  the  undesirable  consequences 
of  gambling  in  all  forms,  that  almost  everywhere  there 
are  laws  and  ordinances  against  it.     All  kinds  of  gam- 


PUBLIC    MORALS  129 

bling  devices  are  made  illegal  and  subject  to  confiscation, 
betting  at  horse  races  is  forbidden,  lotteries  are  pro- 
hibited by  state  law  and  forbidden  to  use  the  mails  by 
federal  act,  and  the  evil  is  attacked  in  all  sorts  of  ways. 
Of  course,  not  all  gambling  can  be  prevented,  and  though 
gambling  bets  were  not  enforceable  at  common  law, 
showing  the  early  conviction  in  England  that  gaml)ling 
was  contra  bonos  mores,  private  betting,  card  playing 
for  money  stakes,  and  games  of  chance  are  not  and 
cannot  be  wholly  prevented.  It  is  only  when  the  prac- 
tice partakes  of  the  nature  of  a  public  or  semi-public 
undertaking  that  the  law  steps  in.  But  the  difficulty 
encountered  in  enforcing  the  law  against  gambling  every- 
where is  evidence  of  the  prevalence  of  the  gaming  in- 
stinct. It  may  be  well  to  point  out  that  most  continental 
European  countries  take  official  notice  of  this  tendency 
and  operate  government  lotteries.  The  theory  of  this 
practice  is  that  no  governmental  regulation  of  even  an 
autocratic  kind  can  suppress  entirely  the  gaming  instinct 
and  that  it  is  better,  therefore,  for  the  government  to 
provide  the  least  objectionable  way  for  this  desire  to 
manifest  itself.  Government  lotteries  are  fair,  while 
privately  conducted  gambling  enterprises  are  almost  sure 
to  be  tainted  with  fraud  and  are  frequently  but  ill- 
disguised  robbery.  Government  lotteries,  moreover,  pro- 
tect the  individual  by  limiting  the  amount  that  can  be 
placed  at  any  one  time,  while  private  enterprises  tend  to 
encourage  a  man  to  risk  and  lose  large  amounts,  perhaps 
his  all.  Finally,  the  profits  from  government  lotteries 
go  into  the  state  treasury  and  are  used  for  governmental 
purposes,  while  private  gambling  enterprises  inure  to 
the  benefit  of  people  who  are  fre(|uently  of  the  lowest 
element  in  the  community.  These  considerations  have 
led   European   countries   to   attack   the   evil    resuhs   of 


I30  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

gambling  by  inoculation,  so  to  speak,  rather  than  by 
suppression.  As  to  which  of  the  policies  comes  nearer 
attaining  the  desired  end,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  Certain 
it  is  that  gambling,  in  practically  unregulated  condition 
and  in  the  most  vicious  forms,  flourishes  in  many  of  our 
cities  in  which  both  state  laws  and  local  ordinances  ex- 
plicitly forbid  it  and  threaten  it  with  severest  punishment. 
Individual  and  secret  gambling  can  never  be  prevented, 
but  it  is  probable  that  public  sentiment  will  enable  the 
cities  to  prohibit  efit'ectively  all  public  manifestations, 
especially  those  which  are  operated  in  such  a  way  as  to 
encourage  and  entice  young  persons  and  novices  into 
gambling  habits.  But  here  again  it  seems  that  in  com- 
munities where  the  general  attitude  toward  gambling  is 
not  one  of  disapproval,  it  is  neither  proper  nor  wise  to 
impose  a  moral  standard  upon  them  against  their  wishes 
by  state  law,  but  to  leave  it  to  local  regulation.  Without 
local  sympathy  no  law  of  that  kind  will  be  enforceable, 
and  the  general  attitude  of  lawlessness  that  comes  from 
seeing  laws  habitually  unenforced  will  certainly  be  more 
detrimental  to  the  moral  and  governmental  welfare  of  a 
community  than  would  open,  unforbidden  gambling. 

When  the  subject  of  the  liquor  traffic  is  considered, 
there  is  raised  one  of  the  most  highly  controversial  and 
difficult  of  all  the  questions  coming  under  the  head  of 
morals  legislation.  To  begin  with,  it  may  be  premised 
that  the  consumption  of  intoxicating  liquors  is  injurious. 
This  does  not  mean  that  merely  the  excessive  or  im- 
moderate drinking  of  alcoholic  beverages  is  injurious, 
but  that  drinking  them  in  any  amount,  however  little, 
is  injurious.  Drinking  steadily  and  in  great  quantities 
is  very  injurious,  drinking  intermittently  and  in  small 
amounts  is  a  little  injurious,  but  it  is  all  injurious.  About 
that  fact  there  cannot  be  the  slightest  doubt,  and  only 


PUBLIC    MORALS  131 

those  who  are  uninformed  about  the  latest  discoveries  of 
medical  science  or  who  are  willfully  blind  can  hold  any 
different  opinion.  It  is  true  that  individuals  differ  in 
this  regard  and  that  what  hurts  one  a  great  deal  injures 
another  but  a  little,  but  injury  to  a  greater  or  less  extent 
there  is  in  every  case.  To  say  that  drinking  is  injurious 
is  not,  however,  to  say  that  the  government  should  pro- 
hibit it.  Overeating  is  injurious,  lack  of  exercise  is  in- 
jurious, im.proper  ventilation  at  night  is  injurious,  yet 
no  one  contends  tliat  the  government  should  determine 
what  or  how  much  individuals  should  eat,  what  exercise 
each  individual  should  take,  or  how  he  should  sleep  at 
night.  It  is  true  that  public  health  considerations  insert 
in  housing  codes  provisions  with  regard  to  the  amount 
of  air  that  must  be  provided  in  tenements  and  lodgings, 
but  that  is  to  protect  the  renter  or  lodger  against  danger 
to  his  health  which  is  threatened  by  the  self-interest  of 
the  landlord  and  which  the  renter  himself  is  powerless 
to  avoid.  The  code  does  not  require  the  renter  or  lodger 
to  keep  the  windows  open.  The  reason  why  w^e  do  not 
legislate  with  regard  to  such  matters  as  overeating  is  not 
because  their  detrimental  consequences  are  not  recog- 
nized. Every  physician  will  bear  witness  to  the  fact 
that  the  dangerous  consequences  of  overeating  or  im- 
proper eating  may  be  much  more  serious  than  the  results 
of  a  moderate  consumption  of  alcoholic  beverages.  It 
is  felt,  however,  that  to  interfere  with  the  individual  in 
such  matters  as  his  diet,  his  hours  of  sleep,  his  exercise, 
and  the  condition  of  the  air  in  which  he  sleeps  involves 
too  great  an  infringement  upon  his  personal  liberty.  So 
he  is  permitted  to  live  as  unhygienically  as  he  pleases  in 
those  regards.  It  is  worth  noting,  moreover,  that  the 
injurious  consequences  of  overeating,  for  instance,  are 
by  no  means  suffered  by  the  individual  alone.     If  his 


132  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

vitality  and  health  are  injured  he  becomes  economically 
less  fit  and  may  be  unable  to  care  for  those  dependent 
on  him.  Furthermore,  for  the  same  reasons,  his  fitness 
to  propagate  the  race  may  be  impaired  and  his  children 
will  be  less  fit  for  life  than  if  moderation  had  kept  his 
body  in  perfect  condition.  Injury  from  overeating  has 
therefore  a  social  aspect  beyond  its  immediate  effect  on 
the  individual  concerned.  And  yet  we  hear  no  proposal 
to  supervise  what  and  how  a  man  eats.  Why,  then,  such 
an  agitation  with  regard  to  alcohol  consumption,  which, 
as  has  been  stated,  though  injurious,  may,  if  moderately 
practiced,  be  much  less  injurious  than  many  other  com- 
mon practices  of  everyday  life?  On  this  point  the  advo- 
cates of  liquor  legislation  divide. 

There  are  those  who  believe  that  the  detrimental  social 
efifect  of  alcohol  consumption  in  any  amount  is  so  serious 
that  all  such  consumption  should  be  forbidden.  These  are 
the  thoroughgoing  prohibitionists  who  would  prevent 
the  manufacture  and  sale,  and  so  the  consumption,  of 
alcoholic  beverages  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  those  who, 
while  recognizing  alcoholic  consumption  to  be  detri- 
mental, feel  that  it  is  only  the  excessive  consumption 
which  is  serious  enough  to  justify  governmental  inter- 
ference with  personal  liberty  to  the  extent  of  interfering 
with  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks.  These  are  the 
temperance  advocates,  properly  termed,  who  believe  that 
the  saloon  and  the  public  consumption  of  alcohol  are  a 
source  of  danger  to  the  city  and  the  state,  but  believe 
that  the  individual  should  not  be  prevented  from  drink- 
ing alcoholic  beverages  in  his  own  home  if  he  sees  fit  to 
do  so.  Then,  of  course,  there  are  the  open  opponents 
of  liquor  legislation  who  believe  that  every  man  should 
follow  the  dictates  of  his  own  reason  in  the  matter  of 


PUBLIC    MORALS  133 

drinking  and  that  it  is  not  the  function  of  the  govern- 
ment to  interfere  in  tliis  matter  any  more  than  in  a 
multitude  of  other  practices  which,  though  injurious,  are 
generally  indulged  in  without  hindrance  by  the  gov- 
ernment. 

The  thoroughgoing  prohibitionists,  basing  their  stand 
on  the  ground  that  alcohol  as  a  beverage  in  any  form  is 
an  enemy  of  society,  contend  that  the  consequences  of 
the  drink  habit  are  so  serious  that  no  compromise  is 
possible.  They  assume  that  drinking,  even  to  a  slight 
extent,  tends  to  lead  to  excessive  drinking,  or,  in  any 
event,  tends  to  induce  others  to  partake  who  may  not 
be  able  to  do  so  in  moderation.  They  consequently 
would  prevent  all  drinking  by  prohibiting  the  manufac- 
ture or  importation  of  all  intoxicating  drinks  whatever. 
They  are  logical  in  considering  prohibition  as  a  national 
question,  for  if  the  danger  is  as  serious  as  they  believe, 
it  threatens  the  country  as  a  whole  and  should  be 
attacked  as  a  national  enemy.  When  a  majority  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  come  to  believe  that  the  evils 
of  alcohol  consumption  are  so  serious  as  to  demand 
governmental  interference,  and  that  the  only  effective 
measure  against  the  evil  is  the  cessation  of  all  manu- 
facture and  importation  of  intoxicating  liquors,  the 
problem  will  have  become  greatly  simplified. 

At  the  present  time,  however,  such  action  has  not 
been  taken  by  the  National  Government.  The  matter, 
therefore,  rests  with  the  states.  Prohibition,  so-called, 
is  in  most  states,  however,  really  not  primarily  a  ques- 
tion of  drinking  or  not  drinking,  but  of  the  saloon.  Now, 
the  saloon  presents  a  governmental  problem  in  itself, 
separable  from  the  general  question  of  prohibition.  Of 
course,  if  no  intoxicating  liquors  can  be  sold  in  a  state, 
that  disposes  of  the  saloon,  and  many  enemies  of  the 
10 


134  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

saloon  have  worked  for  state-wide  prohibition  as  the  best 
means  of  driving  out  the  saloon  and  the  liquor  interests 
from  politics.  In  other  words,  the  saloon  has  in  this 
country  frequently  become  a  center  of  political  corrup- 
tion and  misrule  and  has  been  attacked  as  such  by  many 
persons  who  were  not  willing  to  admit  that  the  govern- 
ment had  a  right  to  forbid  the  individual  from  drinking 
in  his  own  home.  Just  why  the  saloon  developed  into 
such  an  objectionable  aspect  of  the  liquor  business  in 
this  country  when  it  has  not  done  so  in  many  European 
countries  is  difficult  to  explain,  but  as  a  matter  of  com- 
mon knowledge  it  cannot  be  denied. 

Now,  on  the  question  of  the  saloon,  as  on  the  other 
phases  of  the  liquor  problem,  people  in  this  country  are 
divided.  There  are  those  who  wish  to  abolish  the  saloon, 
including  both  absolute  prohibitionists  and  temperance 
advocates  who  believe  the  saloon  leads  to  intemperance, 
as  well  as  those  who  oppose  the  saloon  on  other  grounds. 
There  are  those,  on  the  other  hand,  wlio,  not  granting 
that  the  social  consequences  of  alcohol  consumption  are 
serious  enough  to  justify  interference  by  the  govern- 
ment, believe  it  is  unjust  to  workingmen  to  close  their 
opportunities  for  drinking  while  permitting  the  well-to- 
do  to  indulge  because  their  means  allow  them  to  pur- 
chase intoxicating  drinks  in  large  quantities  and  keep 
them  always  in  the  house.  Here  is  another  respect  in 
which  native  American  traditions  and  European  stand- 
ards differ.  Although  there  is  plenty  of  drinking,  and 
drinking  to  excess,  among  native  Americans,  more  actual 
drunkenness,  perhaps,  than  is  found  in  European  coun- 
tries, yet  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  the  total  abstinence 
idea  has  made  more  progress  in  the  United  States  than 
in  Europe.  This  is  largely  because  the  consumption  of 
alcohol  has  been  made  a  quasi  religious  question  in  this 


PUBLIC    MORALS  135 

country.  In  many  of  our  American  churches  it  is  not 
considered  right  for  an  individual  to  touch  intoxicating 
drinks  to  any  extent,  and  the  churches  are  extremely 
active  in  securing  abstinence  pledges  and  in  furthering 
liquor  legislation.  In  Europe,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  in 
no  sense  considered  incompatible  with  good  standing 
in  the  church  to  indulge  in  tiie  moderate  use  of  intoxi- 
cating beverages.  The  continental  European  child  is 
brought  up  to  look  upon  the  consumption  of  beers  and 
wines  in  moderation  as  a  perfectly  harmless  and  proper 
practice,  and  himself  begins  the  consumption  with  the 
knowledge  and  approval  of  his  parents  and  friends.  In 
the  United  States,  drinking  being  so  generally  consid- 
ered a  sort  of  moral  crime,  has  all  the  fascination  of  the 
forbidden,  and  young  boys  and  girls  indulge  secretly  and 
to  excess.  The  European  point  of  view  has,  however, 
had  a  considerable  influence  in  this  country,  and  in  many 
communities,  in  fact  in  all  cities  with  a  considerable 
foreign  population,  there  is  a  large  element  which  sees 
no  objection  to  the  consumption  of  intoxicating  drinks, 
either  in  the  saloon,  in  the  garden  or  cafe,  or  in  the 
home.  In  fact  in  a  good  many  cities  the  majority  sen- 
timent is  distinctly  that  way.  Now,  where  the  local 
standards  and  sentiment  favor  the  retention  of  the 
saloon,  the  same  situation  arises  that  has  already  been 
considered  when  the  state  attempts  to  abolish  the  sale 
of  alcohol  by  general  law.  State-wide  prohibition  laws 
or  constitutional  provisions  are  enforced  by  local  prose- 
cuting officers,  and  tried  by  local  judges  and  local  juries. 
Where  local  sentiment  is  of  the  opinion  that  prohibition 
laws  constitute  an  unjustifiable  violation  of  personal 
liberty,  it  is  obvious  tliat  there  will  be  no  hesitancy  about 
nullifying  such  laws  by  mere  non-enforcement  What- 
ever may  be  thought  of  the  relative  merits  of  prohibi- 


136  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

tion  and  anti-prohibition,  it  must  be  obvious  that  it  is 
much  better  to  have  intoxicating  liquors  sold  in  a  com- 
munity with  the  sanction  of  law  than  to  have  them  sold 
in  that  community  in  clear  violation  of  the  law  with  the 
approval  of  local  opinion.  That  is  actually  the  situation 
in  many  an  American  city  today.  That  is  the  main 
reason  why  the  determination  of  the  question  of  pro- 
hibition or  non-prohibition  should  be  left  to  the  indi- 
vidual cities.  In  fact,  until  comparatively  recent  times, 
when  the  prohibition  wave  has  carried  state  after  state 
by  state-wnde  prohibition,  this  matter  was  generally  left 
to  local  option. 

There  is  another  reason  besides  governmental  ex- 
pediency for  leaving  this  matter  to  local  legislation. 
Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  contention  that  alco- 
hol in  all  forms  and  all  quantities  is  an  enemy  of 
society,  which,  therefore,  undermines  the  entire  fabric 
of  the  state  and  is  a  matter  of  state  concern,  it  must  be 
recognized  that  this  is  distinctly  a  controversial  political 
question,  in  fact  one  of  the  most  consuming  of  Ameri- 
can political  issues  today.  Almost  all  other  state  issues 
are  subordinated  if  not  entirely  displaced  by  this  one 
issue,  to  the  great  detriment,  as  many  enemies  of  alcohol 
themselves  believe,  of  the  other  vital  questions  affecting 
state  welfare.  Now  it  is  clear  that  the  chief  detriment, 
if  detriment  there  be,  resulting  from  the  existence  of 
saloons,  is  felt  by  the  immediate  locality  in  which  the 
saloon  or  other  liquor  selling  place  is  located.  Even  if 
all  that  extreme  prohibitionists  claim  about  the  degen- 
erating and  corrupting  effect  of  alcohol  consumption  in 
any  amount  were  true,  the  locality  would  be  the  one  to 
suffer  most  and  the  one  to  realize  most  forcefully  the 
need  of  prohibition,  so  that  it  could  with  safety  be  left 
to  the  individual  city.    But,  as  we  have  seen,  people  are 


PUBLIC   MORALS  137 

by  no  means  agreed  that  all  alcohol  consumption  should 
be  prevented  by  governmental  action  or  that  the  saloon 
must  be  abolished  in  order  to  safeguard  society.  In 
recognition  of  that  fundamental  difference  of  opinion, 
a  difference,  by  the  way,  which  is  a  sincere  and  per- 
sonal one,  not  by  any  means,  as  prohibitionists  like  to 
claim,  one  that  is  wholly  manufactured  and  passed 
around  by  the  liquor  interests,  it  seems  proper  that  such 
a  limitation  of  individual  liberty  as  is  involved  in  pro- 
hibition should  be  imposed  only  by  the  locality  which 
is,  after  all,  the  chief  sufferer. 

So  far  we  have  been  discussing  the  question  of  saloon 
or  no  saloon,  a  question  which  it  is  believed  is  for  the 
present,  at  any  rate,  eminently  a  question  for  local  de- 
cision by  the  city  and  other  imits  of  local  government. 
A  part  of  the  opposition  to  the  saloon  rests  uncjuestion- 
ably  on  the  supposition  that  the  saloon  is  an  institution 
that  is  incapable  of  proper  regulation.  That,  however, 
is  a  supposition  contrary  to  fact,  and  virtually  all  anti- 
prohibitionists,  except  those  financially  interested  in  the 
liquor  traffic,  are  agreed  that  regulation  of  the  saloon 
is  not  only  possible  but  is  highly  desirable.  It  has 
already  been  pointed  out  that  there  are  certain  concomi- 
tants of  the  American  saloon  in  its  natural  and  unregu- 
lated state  which  are  strongly  and  rightly  objected  to 
by  every  decent  element  in  the  community.  One  of 
these  elements  is  the  practice  of  selling  liquor  to  per- 
sons who  are  clearly  not  in  a  position  to  judge  for  them- 
selves as  to  the  amount  of  alcohol  they  can  consume 
with  a  minimum  of  danger,  such  as  minors  and  habitual 
drunkards.  Another  is  the  tendency  to  connect  sexual 
immorality  with  the  saloon  through  the  presence  of  im- 
moral women  and  the  opportunities  for  prostitution.  A 
third  is  the  disturbance  of  the  peace  that  is  likely  to 


138  MUNICIPAL   FUXXTIONS 

result  from  having  saloons  or  gardens  open  at  all  hours 
and  on  all  days.  In  all  of  these  regards  saloons  can,  be 
regulated  and  have  so  been  regulated  in  many  places. 
The  liquor  manufacturers  themselves,  realizing  that  these 
concomitants  of  the  unregulated  saloon  have  caused 
many  people  to  line  up  against  them  who  would  not 
otherwise  favor  their  abolition,  have  in  many  cases  been 
desirous  of  such  regulation  and  have  advised  and  warned 
the  saloons  which  they  supplied  to  see  that  the  regula- 
tions were  observed. 

It  is,  therefore,  the  duty  of  the  city  to  regulate  the 
saloons,  where  they  exist,  in  the  interest  of  public 
decency  and  quiet.  On  many  of  these  regulations  people 
are  pretty  well  agreed,  on  others  they  differ  considerably. 
The  exclusion  of  minors  and  habitual  drunkards,  for 
instance,  is  a  measure  that  has  met  with  pretty  general 
adoption.  So  also  has  the  prohibition  of  immoral  women 
and  the  abolition  of  the  back  rooms,  upstairs  quarters 
and  other  arrangements  favoring  sexual  immorality. 
Early  closing  and  the  closing  on  Sundays  have  been 
pretty  widely  adopted,  as  has  also  the  closing  on  elec- 
tion days  in  the  interests  of  order  and  quiet.  Another 
common  regulation  is  the  limitation  of  the  number  of 
saloons  per  thousand  inhabitants,  their  prohibition  near 
churches  and  schools,  and  other  similar  measures.  A 
subject  of  dispute,  however,  in  the  matter  of  regulation 
is  the  question  of  interior  fittings.  The  general  feeling 
seems  to  be  that  the  saloon  should  be  made  as  unpre- 
possessing and  unattractive  as  possible,  so  as  not  to  en- 
courage its  use.  Accordingly,  in  many  places  chairs  and 
tables  are  forbidden,  and  even  the  customary  foot  rail  is 
tabooed.  Music  is  prohibited  and  free  lunches  ruled 
out.  On  the  other  hand,  some  earnest  advocates  of 
regulation  believe  the  opposite  policy  should  be  pursued. 


PUBLIC    MORALS  139 

The  chief  evil  of  the  American  saloon  as  compared  with 
European  cafes  is,  they  contend,  the  rapid  consumption 
of  drinks  at  one  sitting,  or  rather  standing.  To  remedy 
that  they  beheve  chairs  and  tables  should  be  provided 
and  opportunities  for  obtaining  food  be  oflfered,  with 
such  other  attractions  as  music,  etc.  This,  they  believe, 
would  tend  to  make  the  saloon  a  real  workingman's 
club,  where  he  would  spend  more  time  but  consume 
fewer  drinks  than  he  does  at  present.  They  point  to  the 
example  of  Gothenburg,  in  Sweden,  in  minimizing  the 
evils  of  the  saloon  by  making  it  attractive.  Both  theories 
have  been  put  into  practice  in  this  country  with  varying 
success.  So  far,  however,  these  measures  seem  not  to 
have  changed  the  essentially  tough  and  disagreeable 
character  of  the  typical  American  bar. 

The  possibility  of  efiFective  regulation  of  the  saloon 
is  insured  by  the  method  of  license  control.  The  sale 
of  intoxicating  liquors  never  was  at  common  law  a  mat- 
ter of  common  right.  It  was  necessary  to  obtain  a 
license  to  engage  in  that  activity  and  that  license  was 
at  all  times  subject  to  revocation.  Our  American  cities 
have  commonly  been  accorded  the  licensing  power  and 
can  therefore  not  only  impose  such  conditions  as  they 
will  on  granting  of  licenses,  but  can  exercise  an  effective 
and  continuing  control.  If  the  conclusions  about  the 
local  nature  of  the  prohibition  question  are  correct,  it 
is  obvious  that  all  cities  should  have  the  right  of  issuing 
or  refusing  licenses  in  accordance  with  their  own  regu- 
lations. It  is  true  that  this  potential  control  has  not 
always  been  exerted  and  that  the  liquor  interests  and  the 
licensing  power  have  been  used  to  corrupt  the  police 
force  of  some  cities.  Indeed,  one  of  the  arguments 
urged  against  the  saloon  is  the  corruption  in  our  city 
police   forces,   for  which   it   has  been   held   responsible. 


140  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

To  grant  that  there  is  great  danger  of  corrupt  influence 
and  great  temptation  for  the  poHce  force  charged  with 
supervising  the  saloons  is  not  to  agree  that  for  that  rea- 
son the  saloons  must  be  abolished.  City  councils  and 
municipal  officials,  generally,  have  been  bribed  and  cor- 
rupted by  public  utility  corporations,  yet  that  is  no 
argument  for  aboHshing  public  utilities,  but  rather  for 
devising  means  of  watching  them  more  carefully.  So 
in  the  case  of  saloons,  watchfulness  can  prevent  the 
corruption  of  the  police  force  by  this  agency. 

In  the  foregoing  discussion  the  nature  of  the  liquor 
question  and  its  local  character  and  connection  with  city 
government  have  been  considered.  It  is  clear  that  the 
whole  matter  would  be  absolutely  and  satisfactorily  set- 
tled if  every  one  in  every  community,  or  at  least  a  sub- 
stantial majority  in  every  community,  could  be  brought 
to  realize  that  whether  or  not  the  evils  of  alcohol  con- 
sumption, even  in  moderate  measure,  are  great  enough 
to  justify  governmental  interference,  they  are  great 
enough  to  induce  every  individual  voluntarily  to  refrain 
from  drinking  intoxicating  beverages.  The  measures 
adopted  by  European  countries  during  the  present  world 
conflict  prohibiting  the  manufacture,  sale  and  consump- 
tion of  some  of  the  strongest  of  the  intoxicating  drinks, 
like  vodka  in  Russia  and  absinthe  in  France,  even  though 
these  measures  resulted  in  a  reduction  of  public  revenues 
when  public  revenues  were  needed  as  never  before,  show 
the  changing  attitude  in  Europe  toward  such  matters. 
As  a  practical  matter,  moreover,  unless  all  signs  fail, 
it  will  not  be  very  long  before  prohibition  in  the  United 
States  will  be  not  merely  state- wide  but  nation-wide.  To 
see  that  this  development  is  coming  is  not,  however,  to 
agree  that  from  a  large  point  of  view  it  is  the  best  way 
of  accomplishing  the  desired  result.    Much  better  would 


PUBLIC    MORALS  141 

it  be  if  the  non-governmental  activities  of  the  scientists 
and  doctors,  acting  through  the  most  powerful  means 
of  publicity,  the  newspapers,  could  lead  the  public  to 
realize  the  fact  that  drinking  never  benefits,  but  fre- 
quently does  serious  harm.  When  such  a  campaign  has 
resulted  in  a  general  conviction  that  alcoholic  beverages 
should  not  be  manufactured  at  all,  then,  and  not  until 
then,  does  it  seem  proper  for  the  majority  to  impose 
its  view  of  the  question  upon  the  minority.  When  such 
a  conviction  has  become  sufficiently  widespread,  then 
the  question  of  local  option  disappears,  and  even  state 
legislation  should  be  superseded  by  national  measures. 
The  final  class  of  measures  that  cities  commonly  adopt 
in  the  interests  of  public  morals  are  those  intended  to 
prevent  indecency  and  sexual  immorality  in  all  its  forms. 
Indeed,  to  many  people  the  term  immorality  connotes 
sexual  immorality  in  some  form,  and  this  kind  of  im- 
morality is  considered  the  most  important  of  all  the 
evils  to  be  combated  under  this  head.  The  commonest 
offenders  against  public  decency  are  exhibitions  and 
amusement  places  of  various  sorts,  public  dance  halls, 
and  printed  works  and  pictures.  The  social  evil  presents 
special  problems  and  difficulties  and  will  be  considered 
separately.  With  regard  to  the  task  of  preserving  the 
public  morals  or  public  decency,  practically  all  people 
agree  that  it  is  the  function  of  the  government  to  pre- 
vent indecency  from  being  exhibited  in  public  and  in 
such  a  way  as  to  provide  temptation  for  the  young  and 
innocent.  But  though  there  is  general  agreement  as  to 
the  desirability  of  suppressing  indecency,  there  is  by  no 
means  general  agreement  as  to  what  things  are  indecent 
and  objectionable,  from  the  point  of  view  of  morals,  and 
what  things  are  not.  Here,  again,  we  find  great  personal 
differences  in  the  standards  adopted.     The  only  guide, 


142  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

therefore,  to  the  proper  extent  of  governmental  action  is 
the  general  community  opinion  or  view  with  regard  to 
such  matters.     For  instance,  in  the  matter  of  picture 
exhibitions.     There  are  many  persons  who  beHeve  that 
the  exhibition  of  nudes  in  a  pubHc  gallery  is  an  offense 
to  public  morals  and  dangerous  for  the  young.     On  the 
other  hand,  there  are  others  who  believe  that,  inasmuch 
as  many  of  the  recognized  masterpieces  of  painting  rep- 
resent human  figures  in  the  nude,  it  would  be  wrong  to 
deprive  the  public  of  the  opportunity  of  cultivating  the 
highest  artistic  taste.     Now  this  difference  in  point  of 
view  becomes  important,  because  in  every  city  the  au- 
thorities, usually  the  police  authorities,  are  charged  with 
the  duty  of  safeguarding  public  decency  and  morals  and 
they  are  frequently  called  upon  to  suppress  certain  kinds 
of   exhibitions   on   the  ground   that   they   are   indecent. 
What  standard  shall  the  chief  of  police  adopt  in  taking 
action  ?    Shall  he  be  guided  by  the  opinions  of  the  hyper- 
sensitive element  in  the  community,  or  by  the  represen- 
tations of  those  at  the  other  extreme,  or  shall  he  act 
upon  his  own  convictions?     Obviously  there  is  no  fair- 
ness or  sense  in  choosing  any  one  of  these  standards 
rather  than  the  other.    The  same  problem  arises  in  con- 
nection with  theatrical  exhibitions,  especially  in  the  case 
of  moving  pictures.     Of  course,  there  are  many  coarse 
and  lewd  productions  without  the  slightest  pretence  at 
artistic  qualities  which  everyone  would  agree  are  inde- 
cent and  should  be  suppressed  in  the  interest  of  public 
morals.     But  there   are   also   many   other   productions 
which  are  conceived  in  the  highest  artistic  and  moral 
sense  and  yet  which  offend  many  persons  and  are  be- 
lieved  by  them   to  be   indecent.      Classic   dancing,    for 
instance,    which    is    frequently    performed    by    dancers 
almost  without  clothing,  is  one  of  the  commonest  sources 


PUBLIC    MORALS  143 

of  dispute  and  disagreement.  Problem  plays,  that  dis- 
cuss matters  of  the  most  intimate  nature,  are  decried  by 
some  as  being  dangerous,  and  praised  by  others  as  tend- 
ing to  increase  rather  than  decrease  morality.  Who 
shall  judge?  It  would  seem  to  go  without  saying  that 
the  wisest  decision  with  regard  to  plays  and  exhibitions 
which  are  decent  and  should  be  allowed,  and  those  which 
are  indecent  and  should  not,  cannot  be  rendered  by  the 
kind  of  person  who  is  ordinarily,  as  chief  of  police, 
charged  with  the  duty  of  making  that  decision.  In  fact, 
in  a  matter  so  personal  as  this,  it  is  almost  certain  that 
the  opinion  of  one  man  is  not  a  safe  test.  Since  the 
determination  of  such  a  question  is  not  possible  of  de- 
cision by  any  positive  and  universally  accepted  stand- 
ards, it  seems  that  the  only  safe  guide  is  the  representa- 
tive community  opinion  of  the  better  element  in  the 
community,  the  element  whose  moral  standards  in  other 
regards  are  not  questioned.  Here,  then,  is  one  place 
where  a  board  is  more  valuable  than  a  single  individual, 
even  in  the  work  of  administration.  A  board  of  censors 
is,  therefore,  needed  in  every  city  to  pass  upon  all  pro- 
ductions about  which  there  could  be  the  least  difference 
of  opinion.  All  public  productions,  therefore,  whether 
plays,  pictures,  movies,  or  what  not,  should  be  required 
to  submit  to  such  an  examination,  before  production,  as 
will  insure  a  scrutiny  of  the  performance  from  the  point 
of  view  of  decency.  The  decision  of  this  question  being 
a  local  one,  it  is  obvious  that  the  approval  of  other 
bodies,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  National  Board  of 
Censors  in  the  case  of  moving  picture  productions,  does 
not  obviate  the  need  of  local  examination,  as  the  local 
standards  and  views  may  be  quite  different  from  those 
of  the  national  body.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  best 
policy  with  regard  to  productions  of  that  nature  is  to 


144  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

give  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  to  the  performance,  for  it 
constitutes  a  pretty  serious  infringement  of  individual 
liberty  to  undertake  to  dictate  to  grown  men  and  women 
what  they  may  and  may  not  see.  In  the  case  of  minors, 
however,  the  situation  is  quite  different,  for  their  lack 
of  maturity,  experience  and  judgment  would  tend  to 
make  them  see  only  the  objectionable  features  of  many 
productions  which  to  the  adult  mind  would  drive  home  a 
moral  lesson.  The  board  of  censors  might,  therefore, 
very  properly  exclude  children  from  many  productions 
which  it  would  not  be  justifiable  to  suppress  altogether. 

Indecent  publications  in  the  shape  of  printed  matter 
or  pictures  are  a  source  of  danger,  particularly  to  the 
young,  and  should  be  suppressed  by  the  city  in  the  in- 
terests of  decency.  Here,  again,  the  line  is  extremely 
hard  to  draw  between  publications  which  discuss  sex 
relations,  for  instance,  in  an  indecent  way  and  those 
which  deal  with  the  same  questions  in  an  unobjection- 
able way,  but  certainly  much  of  the  obscene  literature 
which  is  for  sale  in  public  places  could  be  suppressed 
without  any  great  deal  of  difficulty. 

One  very  difficult  problem,  from  this  point  of  view, 
in  almost  every  city  is  the  public  dance  hall.  Dancing 
seems  to  make  an  appeal  as  a  form  of  diversion  stronger 
than  any  other  form  of  amusement  to  all  classes  of 
people.  The  well-to-do  have  their  homes,  their  ball- 
rooms and  thes  dansants,  which  are  very  select  and  not 
subjected  to  public  criticism  as  a  rule.  The  poor,  how- 
ever, in  whom  the  dancing  instinct  is  quite  as  strong, 
have  no  opportunity  for  satisfying  that  desire  except  in 
the  public  dance  hall.  There  are  still  many  people  today 
who  have  religious  and  moral  scruples  against  dancing 
and  who,  therefore,  believe  that  it  is  wrong  for  the  city 
to  permit  public  dancing.     Such  persons  are,  however, 


PUBLIC    MORALS  145 

greatly  in  the  minority  and  are  continually  decreasing 
in  numbers.  Nevertheless,  there  is  a  very  general  antip- 
athy, on  the  part  of  the  community  which  has  other 
opportunities  for  indulging  in  dancing,  against  the  public 
dance  hall.  The  reason  for  this  is  obviously  not  any 
objection  to  dancing  per  se,  but  to  the  particular  mani- 
festations foimd  in  these  halls.  In  other  words,  it  is  the 
ordinary  concomitants  of  the  public  dance  hall  that  are 
objectionable,  not  the  dancing  itself.  Drunkenness  and 
various  forms  of  sexual  immorality  have  frequently 
flourished  in  public  dance  halls,  and  many  young  men 
and  women  have  begim  a  downward  path  at  these  places. 
For  that  reason  there  has  been  a  considerable  agitation 
for  the  abolition  of  the  dance  hall  entirely.  That,  how- 
ever, seems  to  be  an  unwise  way  to  deal  with  the  prob- 
lem in  view  of  the  possibilities  of  the  dance  hall  as  a 
recreational  opportunity  for  people  who  lack  such  oppor- 
tunities elsewhere.  If  regulation  of  privately  owned 
public  dance  halls  in  the  interests  of  decency  and  morality 
is  too  difficult  and  too  expensive,  owing  to  the  financial 
benefits  accruing  to  the  owner  from  having  a  loose 
establishment,  then  a  better  plan,  than  doing  away  with 
dancing  facilities  altogether,  is  for  the  city  itself  to  pro- 
vide such  opportunities  and  see  that  the  objectionable 
features  do  not  creep  in,  a  very  simple  matter  where  the 
city  owns  and  manages  the  dance  hall  itself.  This  has 
been  done  in  some  American  cities  already  and  seems 
to  have  proved  very  satisfactory.  It  is  certainly  worth 
trying,  not  only  as  a  meang  of  meeting  a  moral  danger, 
but  also  as  a  positive  measure  of  social  welfare,  along 
the  lines  to  be  considered  in  the  next  chapter. 

By  far  the  most  serious  of  the  moral  ills  that  afRict 
our  cities  is  the  social  evil.  By  this  is  meant  not  the 
clandestine  illicit  relations  between  individual  men  and 


146  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

women,  associating  for  the  time  being  with  one  another 
only,  but  the  indiscriminate  professional  service  by 
women  for  pay,  either  for  themselves  or  more  generally 
in  the  employ  of  others.  Of  the  moral  aspect  of  illicit 
sexual  relations  of  the  first  kind  it  is  not  necessary  to 
say  anything  here.  Whatever  might  be  desirable  from 
the  point  of  view  of  individual  and  social  morality,  it  is 
generally  conceded  that  the  attempt  of  the  government 
to  interfere  in  such  matters,  so  long  as  they  were  not 
publicly  displayed,  would  result  in  more  harm  than  good. 
But  prostitution  in  the  sense  of  commercialized  vice  has 
long  been  studied  as  an  evil  that  might  be  eliminated  by 
government  action.  It  is  an  evil  that  is  as  old  as  cities 
themselves  and  is  peculiarly  a  city  problem.  Officially 
it  has  long  been  recognized  as  an  evil,  and  is  forbidden 
in  every  civilized  country  by  law.  But  actually  there  is 
no  country  in  which  the  law  is  enforced  and  in  which 
prostitution  does  not  flourish  in  practically  every  city. 
In  many  cases,  indeed,  the  law  takes  official  notice  of 
the  existence  of  prostitution  by  requiring  prostitutes  to 
be  registered  and  to  submit  to  medical  examination  and 
supervision.  In  the  United  States  the  local  police  sim- 
ply ignore  the  state  laws  making  prostitution  a  criminal 
offense  and  content  themselves  with  enforcing  local 
statutes  governing  the  manifestations  of  the  evil. 

Until  comparatively  recent  times  there  has  never  been 
a  serious  attempt  actually  to  prevent  prostitution.  In 
fact,  it  seemed  to  be  pretty  generally  agreed  that  the 
social  evil  was  not  capable  of  eradication  by  govern- 
mental action  and  that  the  only  hope  of  destroying  it 
was  to  work  upon  the  individuals,  men  and  women,  who 
were  concerned.  The  reason  for  this  attitude  lay  un- 
doubtedly in  the  fact  that  a  large  portion  of  the  popula- 
tion, of  the  male  population  at  least,  was  not  concerned 


PUBLIC   MORALS  147 

with  the  question  and  saw  no  harm  in  it  either  to  the 
individuals  or  to  society.  That  attitude  was  perhaps 
more  common  in  Europe  than  in  this  country,  but  it  was 
and  is  fairly  prevalent  everywhere.  There  are  in  this 
country  today  many  cities  in  which  a  majority  of  the 
men  in  the  community  look  upon  the  social  evil  with 
indifference,  if  not  indeed  with  favor.  Many  a  mer- 
chant, for  instance,  believes  that  the  abolition  of  pros- 
titutes, if  that  were  possible,  would  injure  the  city  by 
making  it  less  attractive  to  visitors,  and  so  would  affect 
him  financially  to  his  detriment.  Since  the  wiping  out 
of  prostitution  in  a  community  can  come  only  as  the 
result  of  a  general  and  powerful  conviction  that  it  must 
go,  it  is  obvious  that  no  such  eradication  will  occur  in 
a  community  lacking  in  such  a  conviction,  all  the  laws 
on  the  statute  books  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
It  is  obviously,  therefore,  distinctly  a  local  administra- 
tive question,  thougii  the  baneful  results  of  prostitution 
are  by  no  means  localized  in  the  community  in  which  it 
exists. 

Now,  although  few  cities  have  seriously  attempted  to 
abolish  prostitution  and  fewer  still  have  succeeded  in 
doing  so,  if  indeed  any  have  as  yet  attained  that  measure 
of  success,  certain  measures  have  been  generally  adopted 
to  mitigate  some  of  its  more  serious  aspects  and  public 
opinion  has  demanded  their  enforcement.  In  the  first 
place,  safeguards  have  been  thrown  around  girls  who 
might  be  led  into  houses  of  assignation  by  temptations, 
fraud  or  force.  Pandering  and  seduction  are  every- 
where criminally  punishable,  and  recently  the  transport- 
ing of  girls  from  one  state  to  another  has  been  made 
punishable  by  Federal  Law,  In  spite  of  these  precau- 
tions, it  is  still  true  that  many  girls  are  led  into  the  busi- 
ness of  prostitution,  largely  against  their  will,  and,  once 


148  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

in,  find  it  practically  impossible  to  get  out.  On  the  other 
hand,  efforts  are  generally  made  to  diminish  the  publicity 
of  the  business.  Streetwalking  is  commonly  forbidden 
and  all  forms  of  public  solicitation  prohibited.  In  order 
to  diminish  still  further  the  public  aspects  of  prostitu- 
tion some  cities  have  followed  the  plan  of  having  a 
segregated  district  and  effectually  preventing  prostitution 
in  any  other  part  of  the  city.  This  policy  of  segrega- 
tion, though  presenting  some  advantages  from  the  point 
of  view  of  official  supervision,  presents  several  serious 
theoretical  objections  and  has  not  proved  acceptable  in 
practice.  It  is  now  generally  discredited,  therefore, 
though  it  is  still  the  plan  followed  in  a  number  of  cities. 
In  some  places  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  attack  the 
sanitary  aspects  of  prostitution  by  instituting  a  medical 
inspection  of  prostitutes,  by  requiring  them  all  to  be 
registered  and  to  submit  to  treatment  and  isolation  if 
they  contract  venereal  diseases.  This  is  a  common  prac- 
tice in  European  cities.  The  prevailing  opinion  seems 
to  be  here,  too,  however,  that  such  inspection  as  is  pro- 
vided, even  in  the  most  active  cities  in  this  regard,  is 
wholly  inadequate  to  attain  the  desired  ends  and  is  even 
a  source  of  greater  trouble  because  of  the  false  sense 
of  security  which  it  induces.  Generally  speaking,  all 
these  measures,  which  have  been  directed  at  the  various 
manifestations  of  the  evil  instead  of  at  the  evil  itself, 
have  been  ineffective.  The  conclusion  would  seem  to 
be  that  the  only  way  to  improve  the  situation  appreciably 
is  to  abolish  the  evil,  root  and  branch. 

Within  quite  recent  years  there  has  been  a  consider- 
able awakening  of  interest  in  the  question  of  abolishing 
the  social  evil  entirely.  In  several  cities  and  states  there 
have  been  so-called  vice  commissions  at  work  investi- 
gating the  causes,  principal  and  contributory,  of  pros- 


PUBLIC    MORALS  I49 

titution  and  suggesting  remedies.  One  significant  result 
of  these  investigations  and  reports  has  been  to  open  the 
eyes  of  many  j)eople  to  the  serious  nature  of  an  evil 
which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  regard  with  indif- 
ference. Though  there  may  be  some  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  relative  part  played  in  causing  prosti- 
tution by  such  factors  as  low  wages,  seduction,  natural 
desire,  etc.,  there  can  be  no  question  that  a  community 
has  it  within  its  power  to  eradicate  the  evil  entirely,  if 
the  great  body  of  citizens  demand  it.  One  of  the  chief 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  eradicating  commercialized  vice 
is  found  in  the  enormous  profits  that  accrue  to  the  bene- 
ficiaries. Chief  among  these  may  be  mentioned  the 
owners  of  buildings  in  which  prostitution  is  carried  on. 
They  are  frequently  among  the  most  influential  members 
of  the  community  and  their  self-interest  prompts  them 
to  discourage  any  serious  attempts  to  do  away  with  a 
practice  which  nets  them  so  large  an  income.  This 
particular  element  of  opposition  has  been  successfully 
attacked  by  means  of  the  so-called  Red  Light  Injunction 
and  Abatement  Laws  in  several  states.  Under  these 
statutes  individual  citizens  may  bring  action  against  a 
building  used  for  immoral  purposes  as  a  public  nuisance. 
The  action,  if  successful,  destroys  the  value  of  the  prop- 
erty until  again  turned  to  a  legitimate  use.  This  is  one 
very  effective  way  of  aiding  in  the  campaign  of  eradi- 
cation. It  is  doubtful,  however,  if  the  evil  will  be  entirely 
eliminated  until  the  general  attitude  of  most  communities 
has  been  radically  reformed.  This  can  only  be  done 
through  a  campaign  by  the  schools  and  churches,  aided 
eft'ectively  by  the  public  health  department,  which  can 
adduce  evidence  against  the  social  evil  that  will  receive 
attention  from  many  persons  who  arc  unable  to  appre- 
ciate the  moral  issues  involved. 
11 


CHAPTER    VI 

SOCIAL   WELFARE  ^ 

Social  welfare  as  an  object  of  governmental  activity 
M'ould,  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the  term,  comprise  every 
legitimate  governmental  undertaking.  All  of  the  func- 
tions that  have  already  been  discussed,  as  well  as  those 
which  will  be  considered  later,  find  their  justification 
only  in  the  fact  that  they  contribute  to  the  welfare  of 
society  and  the  individual  in  it.  In  fact,  all  government 
finds  its  raison  d'etre  in  that  fact  alone.  If  we  are  to 
consider  the  social  welfare  activities  of  the  city  under 
a  separate  division,  the  term  must,  therefore,  be  used 
in  a  narrower  sense.  As  to  just  what  should  be  included 
under  this  more  specific  designation  there  is  not  entire 
agreement.  For  the  purposes  of  this  discussion,  how- 
ever, the  social  welfare  activities  of  the  city  will  be,  in 
general,  those  measures  which  the  city  adopts  for  the 
protection  and  improvement  of  the  helpless  and  unfortu- 
nate members  of  society,  as  well  as  those  who  are  at  a 
disadvantage  because  of  general  economic  conditions 
and  those  who  are  physically,  mentally  or  morally  totally 
incapacitated  and  so  become  an  out  and  out  charge  upon 

1  This  subject  is  also  treated  at  lencth  in  Ward:  The  Social 
Center,  1913;  King:  Lower  Living  Costs  in  Cities,  1915.  D. 
Appleton    and    Company,    Publishers,    New   York.— Editor. 

150 


SOCIAL   WELFARE  151 

the  community.  From  this  point  of  view  the  wage 
earning  classes,  particularly  those  belonging  to  the  lowest 
class  of  unskilled  and  unorganized  labor,  are  largely 
dependent  upon  governmental  protection  and  positive 
action  in  order  to  secure  that  minimum  of  the  necessi- 
ties and  comforts  of  life  without  which  no  human  being 
can  enjoy  a  decent  existence.  This  whole  field  of  mu- 
nicipal activity  is  one  of  the  latest  of  municipal  functions 
to  develop.  Curiously  enough,  too,  it  has  been  developed 
to  a  much  greater  degree  in  the  cities  of  undemocratic 
Germany  than  in  the  American  cities.  Following  the 
lead  of  Germany,  English  cities  have  made  progress  con- 
siderably in  advance  of  most  American  cities  also,  but 
in  the  twentieth  century  a  widespread  awakening  has 
occurred  in  the  United  States  as  well,  which  promises 
much  for  the  development  of  social  welfare  work  in 
American  municipalities  also.  We  shall  consider  here 
only  some  of  the  more  important  aspects  of  social  welfare 
work  in  modern  cities. 

One  of  the  most  recent,  and  yet  one  of  the  most  sig- 
nificant, of  social  welfare  activities,  is  the  attempt  to 
improve  the  housing  conditions  in  the  city.  Slums,  that 
is,  sections  of  the  city  in  which  people  live  in  filthy, 
crowded,  ugly  holes,  have  generally  been  regarded  as 
more  or  less  inevitable  accompaniments  of  city  life. 
Certainly  as  far  back  as  we  have  any  definite  informa- 
tion concerning  city  life,  the  slum  has  been  an  ever- 
present  factor.  In  Rome  the  housing  conditions  of  the 
poor  were  frightful  and  tlie  greed  of  the  tenement 
owners  was  one  of  the  main  causes  of  tliis  condition. 
All  through  the  Middle  Ages  and  in  the  modern  period 
down  to  the  present,  the  condition  of  the  poorer  classes 
in  the  cities  has  been  pitiable  in  the  extreme.  A  hopeful 
sign  of  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  and  of  the 


152  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

opening  of  the  present  period  has  been  the  beginning  of 
an  idea  that  perhaps  slums  are  not  absohitely  inevitable 
and  that  by  proper  governmental  action  a  slumless  city 
might  cease  to  be  but  a  figment  of  the  imagination. 

It  is  not  possible  here  to  enter  upon  a  discussion  of 
the  causes  and  possible  cure  of  that  universal  social  evil, 
poverty.  That  is  a  problem,  the  solution  of  which  is  still 
a  long  way  off  and  on  which  leading  thinkers  are  by  no 
means  agreed.  It  is  important  to  point  out,  however, 
that  in  the  last  analysis  the  housing  problem,  as  it  is 
called  today,  rests  fundamentally  upon  the  economic 
causes  of  poverty,  namely,  insufficient  wages  for  the 
laboring  classes.  A  complete  cure  for  the  housing  ills 
of  modern  cities  cannot,  therefore,  be  found  until  the 
problem  of  adequate  returns  to  every  productive  member 
of  society  has  been  worked  out.  This  fundamental  fact 
must  be  stated  with  great  emphasis  at  the  outset,  because 
many  of  the  most  ardent  housing  reform  enthusiasts 
overlook  or  ignore  that  fact  and  delude  themselves  and 
others  into  thinking  that  this  or  that  measure  of  im- 
provement will  provide  a  cure  for  the  situation,  whereas 
all  it  can  do  is  to  afford  a  palliative,  a  very  valuable  and 
desirable  palliative  it  may  be,  but  still  not  a  fundamental 
cure.  In  fact,  not  infrequently  housing  reform  defeats 
its  own  purpose  by  insisting  on  measures  which,  while 
improving  conditions  in  the  buildings  constructed  under 
the  law,  increase  the  cost  of  construction  to  the  point 
that  rents  become  too  high  for  the  class  of  people  to  be 
benefited,  and  their  subsequent  condition  may  be  worse 
than  the  first.  The  discouraging  point  about  the  whole 
matter  to  the  person  interested  in  improving  municipal 
conditions  is  that,  whatever  may  be  the  solution  of  the 
problem  of  securing  a  living  wage  for  every  productive 
member  of  the  community,  it  is  not  a  solution  that  lies 


SOCIAL   WELFARE  153 

within  the  province  or  power  of  tiie  city.  The  city, 
therefore,  though  the  chief  sufferer  from  the  deplorable 
conditions  that  exist,  is  largely  i)owerless  even  to  attack 
the  fundamental  causes  of  those  conditions. 

To  say  that  the  housing  problem  is  largely  a  problem 
of  decent  wages  and  that  the  problem  of  wages  is  largely 
beyond  the  control  of  the  city  is  not  to  absolve  the  city 
from  the  duty  of  talcing  such  steps  as  can  be  taken  to 
mitigate  the  evil  and  avoid  some  of  its  most  serious 
consequences.  There  are  various  aspects  to  the  housing 
problem,  some  of  which  have  been  touched  upon  in 
another  connection  and  some  of  which  will  be  consid- 
ered somewhat  later.  First,  there  is  the  sanitary  aspect. 
Lack  of  sufficient  light  and  air  and  of  proper  sanitary 
facilities  make  the  slums  a  serious  menace  to  public 
health  and  the  overcrowding  found  there  makes  the  con- 
trol of  contagious  diseases  extremely  difficult.  Tuber- 
culosis thrives  most  readily  in  the  tenements  where 
many  persons  sleep  in  a  single  room,  often  without  any 
outside  air  at  all  and  practically  no  daylight.  Lack  of 
proper  washing  and  sanitary  facilities  makes  cleanliness 
impossible.  As  a  breeding  center  for  the  white  plague, 
therefore,  overcrowded,  poorly  lighted  and  ventilated 
living  places  constitute  a  menace  to  public  health  which 
must  be  remedied  in  the  same  way  as  other  insanitary 
conditions  in  the  city. 

Conditions  in  the  city's  slums  constitute  a  moral  as 
well  as  a  physical  danger.  No  family  life  is  possible 
under  the  conditions  in  which  most  tenements  are  found. 
All  the  members  of  a  large  family  crowded  into  a  single 
room,  with  the  necessities  of  existence  driving  them  to 
take  in  a  night  lodger  besides,  are  absolutely  destructive 
of  decency  in  environment.  The  testimony  of  investi- 
gators shows  that  conditions  of  this  kind  are  directly 


154  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

responsible  for  leading  many  young  girls  into  lives  of 
shame.  Furthermore,  the  very  congestion  of  the  tene- 
ments as  well  as  the  price  of  lodgings  elsewhere  drives 
the  thieves  and  criminals  of  the  community  to  take 
refuge  in  these  places.  The  association  of  the  children 
in  the  tenements  with  men  and  women  of  this  type  is 
responsible  for  the  formation  of  the  gangs  which  later 
graduate  professional  criminals  for  the  community.  In 
other  words,  every  element  of  the  surroundings  in  the 
city  slums  is  a  factor  making  for  degeneracy  instead  of 
desirable  development.  As  a  social  hazard,  therefore, 
the  slums  must  be  an  object  of  attack. 

The  method  of  procedure  in  dealing  with  the'  housing 
problem  of  the  city  is  usually  through  the  passage  of  a 
housing  code.  Such  a  code  commonly  provides  building 
regulations  for  tenements  which  are  meant  to  insure  a 
minimum  of  light  and  air  and  of  sanitary  appliances. 
It  commonly  contains  other  provisions  as  well.  So,  for 
instance,  safeguards  against  fire,  which  has  always  been 
a  great  life  hazard  in  the  crowded  tenement  districts  of 
our  cities,  are  inserted  in  a  comprehensive  housing  code. 
The  fire-resisting  character  of  the  building  construction, 
the  provision  of  fire  escapes  and  of  fire  extinguishers, 
when  inserted  in  a  building  code  and  carefully  enforced 
by  an  adequate  corps  of  inspectors,  do  much  to  lessen 
at  least  that  risk  to  which  tenement  dwellers  are  sub- 
jected. Light  and  air  are  guaranteed  by  regulating  the 
height  of  the  building,  the  amount  of  the  lot  which  can 
be  built  upon,  a  protection  against  back-yard  tenements, 
which  are  the  worst  of  all,  the  provisions  regarding  out- 
side windows  in  rooms  and  the  amount  of  window  space 
that  must  be  provided ;  while  the  size  of  the  rooms  and 
the  access  of  outside  air  are  regulated  for  the  purpose 
of  insuring  sufficient  ventilation.     The  number  of  fami- 


SOCIAL   WELFARE  155 

lies  that  may  be  allowed  to  live  in  apartments  of  a  given 
size  is  also  the  subject  of  regulation,  though  the  over- 
crowding by  a  single  family  is  a  matter  that  is  more 
difficult  to  reach.  In  general,  these  regulations  are  in- 
tended to  restrain  the  landlord  in  his  natural  desire  to 
get  just  as  much  return  from  his  property  as  possible, 
w^ithout  regard  to  the  welfare  of  the  inhabitants.  The 
standards  of  cleanliness  and  mode  of  living  of  the  tene- 
ment dwellers  themselves  are,  of  course,  not  regulated 
except  indirectly.  It  happens,  therefore,  that  insanitary 
and  indecent  conditions  may  exist  even  in  model  tene- 
ments, so-called,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  building 
laws.  The  same  is  true  with  regard  to  the  provision 
of  sanitary  facilities.  The  law  may  require  the  tene- 
ment owner  to  provide  bath  tubs,  it  cannot  insure  that 
they  will  be  used.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  prevailing  opinion  that  tenement  dwellers 
are  dirty  from  choice  must  rest  either  on  an  insignificant 
number  of  individual  cases  examined,  or,  more  generally 
still,  on  prejudice  pure  and  simple;  the  unfortunate  in- 
dividuals under  consideration  never  having  had  a  chance 
to  show  whether  or  not  they  would  use  such  facilities 
if  provided. 

Such  housing  codes  as  these  undoubtedly  accomplish 
certain  very  desirable  ends.  They  tend  to  put  an  end 
to  the  exploitation  of  the  tenement  dwellers  by  landlords 
whose  financial  interests  are  bound  up  with  overcrowd- 
ing and  lack  of  sanitary  conditions.  Some  marked  im- 
provements, it  is  true,  can  be  made  without  greatly 
increasing  the  cost  of  construction  and,  therefore,  with- 
out necessitating  an  increase  in  the  rents.  But  the  whole 
character  of  the  modern  housing  code  is  such  as  to 
involve  more  expense  in  building  tenements,  for  propor- 
tionately less  ground  can  be  used  and  expensive  improve- 


156  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

ments  in  the  way  of  plumbing  are  required.  To  meet 
that  additional  amount  invested  the  tenement  owner  will, 
of  course,  raise  the  rent  correspondingly.  As  most 
tenement  dwellers  are,  however,  already  spending  the 
maximum  amount  available  for  rent,  the  result  of  such 
an  increase  will  be  to  put  the  improved  living  quar- 
ters beyond  their  reach.  What,  then,  is  the  solution 
of  this  difificulty?  As  has  been  stated  before,  the  ulti- 
mate solution  will  involve  the  payment  of  sufficient 
wages  to  allow  every  worker  to  rent  a  dwelling  that 
offers  these  minima  of  decency  and  sanitation.  Lacking 
that  development,  however,  the  result  of  insisting  on 
standards  of  tenement  construction  that  put  rents  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  present  tenement  dwellers,  will  simply 
mean  that  they  will  be  without  shelter,  if,  under  our 
supposition,  all  tenements  are  built  under  the  provisions 
of  the  housing  code.  It  is  true  that  many  tenement 
owners,  if  not  the  majority,  are  deriving  unreasonable 
returns  from  their  property  and  could  rent  for  the  same 
amount  after  making  the  required  improvements  in  tene- 
ment conditions  and  still  get  a  fair  return  from  their 
money.  It  is  also  true  that  if  the  class  in  the  community 
which  is  able  to  pay  the  higher  rents  resulting  from 
compliance  with  the  housing  code  is  already  sufficiently 
supplied  with  dwellings,  the  tendency  will  be  to  make 
the  improved  tenement  owner  rent  at  a  lower  figure, 
and  one  which  it  is  possible  for  the  proletariat  to  pay. 
But  if  model  tenements  do  not  prove  a  financially  profit- 
able investment,  no  more  will  be  constructed,  and  with 
the  increase  in  the  city's  working  population  the  problem 
of  the  unhoused  will  again  arise.  Now  the  person  or 
family  without  shelter  is  destitute  and  not  only  becomes 
a  charge  upon  the  community  as  a  pauper,  but,  realizing 
that  the  best  wages  he  can  earn  under  the  present  in- 


SOCIAL    WELFARE  157 

dustrial  conditions  arc  not  sufficient  to  furnish  him  any 
kind  of  shelter,  he  is  certain  to  become  a  derelict  as  well. 
Wherein  lies  the  advantage  of  the  model  housing  code, 
if  it  has  converted  men  with  homes,  though  poor  and 
undesirable  ones,  into  men  with  no  homes  at  all?  That, 
of  course,  is  only  a  theoretical  development,  for  no  city 
has  so  completely  mastered  the  housing  situation  as  to 
have  gotten  rid  of  all  undesirable  slum  districts.  The 
practical  cfifcct,  therefore,  of  housing  legislation  which 
results  in  raising  the  rents,  is  to  compel  the  families 
driven  out  by  the  higher  rent  to  go  into  even  more 
crowded  and  undesirable  districts,  because  the  inevitable 
result  of  displacing  a  large  number  of  families  from 
tenements  that  have  been  converted  into  model  tenements 
is  to  raise  the  price  of  remaining  undesirable,  but  rela- 
tively cheap,  tenements  and  so  induce  still  further  con- 
gestion. 

The  tenement  owner  cannot  be  compelled  to  rent  his 
property  at  a  loss  or  even  at  definite  rates.  If  he  will 
not  rent  at  sufficiently  low  rates,  the  only  other  alterna- 
tive is  for  the  city  itself  to  provide  decent  living  quarters 
for  the  working  population,  at  rents  which  under  present 
economic  conditions  they  are  able  to  pay.  Municipal 
housing  is,  in  fact,  not  an  unknown  thing,  for  a  number 
of  cities  in  England  and  continental  Europe  have  been 
experimenting  with  the  matter.  Their  efforts  have  been 
very  interesting  and  from  some  points  of  view  encour- 
aging. They  have  not,  however,  been  altogether  satis- 
factory or  convincing  as  to  the  wisdom  of  that  kind  of 
municipal  housing  policy.  Where  the  cities  have  con- 
demned and  destroyed  slum  districts  and  have  built 
model  tenements  in  their  places,  the  result  has  frequently 
been  the  driving  of  people  out  of  their  homes  who  could 
not  all  be  housed  in  the  new  quarters  which  did  not 


158  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

occupy  the  ground  so  economically.  In  other  places 
this  objection  has  been  met  by  building  single  or  two- 
family  houses  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city  on  land  bought 
by  the  city  for  that  purpose.  The  trouble  here  has 
been,  firstly,  that  the  new  houses  could  accommodate 
but  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  tenement  dwellers; 
and,  secondly,  that  in  most  instances  the  city's  houses 
were  occupied  by  mechanics  and  skilled  artisans,  and 
not  by  the  large  class  of  unskilled  labor  whose  economic 
condition  did  not  enable  them  to  pay  even  the  low  scale 
of  rent  demanded  by  the  city. 

Municipal  housing  experiments,  therefore,  have  so  far 
not  proven  a  panacea  by  any  means.  At  the  same  time 
there  seems  no  escape  from  the  conclusion  that  really 
noteworthy  improvement  in  the  living  conditions  of  the 
people  on  the  lowest  scale  of  the  economic  ladder  can- 
not, in  the  long  run,  be  brought  about  by  the  activity 
of  the  cities  through  the  passage  and  enforcement  of 
model  housing  codes,  unless  the  city  is  willing  to  face 
the  consequences  which,  we  have  seen  above,  are  very 
likely  to  follow  the  strict  and  all-inclusive  enforcement 
of  housing  laws.  In  other  words,  if  the  city  is  not  will- 
ing to  see  the  very  people  pauperized  whom  it  wished 
to  help,  it  must  be  ready  to  assume  the  duty  itself  of 
furnishing  decent  living  quarters  to  the  poorest  element 
in  the  community  at  reasonable  rates ;  reasonable  not 
from  the  point  of  view  of  fair  financial  returns,  how- 
ever, but  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  amount  which 
that  class  in  the  community  is  able  to  pay.  That,  it  will 
immediately  be  objected,  is  socialism.  Socialism  or  not, 
it  is  the  possibility  which  faces  every  city  as  an  inevitable 
ultimate  development  when  it  enters  upon  the  housing 
problem.  That  it  is  illogical  for  the  city  to  let  its  well 
meant  efforts  for  the  benefit  of  the  persons  at  the  bot- 


SOCIAL   WELFARE  159 

torn  of  the  financial  ladder  result  in  degrading  their 
position  still  more,  by  pauperizing  them,  is  obvious. 
Equally  true,  though  less  obvious  is  it,  merely  as  a  ques- 
tion of  finances,  that  it  is  cheaper  for  the  city  to  furnish 
decent  quarters  to  the  working  population  at  low  rentals 
than  to  bear  the  cost  of  supporting  these  same  working 
people  made  homeless  by  its  alleged  remedial  legisla- 
tion. The  above  considerations  are  not  in  any  sense 
meant  to  minimize  the  terrible  effect  upon  the  community 
from  slums  and  improper  housing  conditions  generally, 
nor  to  minimize  the  importance  of  housing  reform,  for 
much  has  been  accomplished  and  much  still  remains  to 
be  accomplished.  It  is  believed  wise,  however,  to  issue 
a  distinct  note  of  warning  that,  in  the  absence  of  a 
fundamental  change  in  industrial  and  labor  conditions 
throughout  the  country,  housing  regulation  is  only  a 
partial  remedy  and  may  conceivably  carry  us  on  to  meas- 
ures which  should  be  clearly  understood  and  provided 
for  beforehand. 

One  or  two  other  considerations  are  worth  noting 
before  leaving  the  subject  of  housing.  Congestion,  the 
worst  evil  in  the  housing  situation,  is  caused,  it  is  true, 
by  conditions  of  labor,  for  congestion  is  said  to  vary 
directly  with  the  working  hours  and  indirectly  with  the 
wages.  That  is,  the  longer  the  hours  of  labor  the 
greater  the  congestion  around  the  industrial  section  of 
the  city,  because  the  workers  are  unable  to  spare  the 
time  from  their  resting  hours  which  is  needed  to  make 
long  trips  to  and  from  the  place  of  work.  Similarly,  the 
lower  the  wages  the  greater  the  congestion,  because  the 
rent  in  the  tenements,  though  perhaps  exorbitant  from 
the  point  of  view  of  what  is  furnished  and  of  the  returns 
to  the  tenement  owner,  are  nevertheless  the  only  ones 
in  the  city  that  can  be  afiforded  by  the  financial  means 


i6o  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

of  the  laborer.  Nevertheless,  something  can  be  done  to 
relieve  the  evil  of  congestion  by  providing  cheap  and 
rapid  transportation  facilities  to  the  places  of  labor  from 
the  other  portions  of  the  city.  Special  cars  for  working 
people,  at  very  reduced  rates,  have  been  found  helpful 
in  some  European  cities  and  might  be  used  with  profit 
in  our  industrial  centers  in  this  country.  Such  a  device, 
coupled  with  the  prevention  of  real  estate  speculation  in 
the  portions  of  the  city  where  small  and  inexpensive 
workmen's  dwellings  might  be  erected,  would  at  least 
offer  some  improvement  in  the  congested  conditions  of 
the  city.  In  this  respect  American  cities  are  greatly 
handicapped  as  compared  with  many  European  cities, 
for  our  cities  are,  as  a  rule,  powerless  to  acquire  land 
for  such  purposes ;  whereas  in  German  cities  it  has 
been  found  that  the  control  exercisable  by  the  city  over 
land  which  the  city  itself  owns  and  then  leases  or  sells 
under  restrictions  can  be  made  to  count  for  the  improve- 
ment of  municipal  conditions  in  a  great  variety  of  ways. 
Though  this  is  a  matter  that  will  come  up  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  modern  city  planning,  it  is  well  to  point  out 
here  that  this  power  could  be  used  to  improve  housing 
conditions  also.  In  this  connection  it  must  be  mentioned, 
finally,  that  the  matter  of  housing  has  also  an  esthetic 
side  which  will  be  considered  in  the  next  chapter,  under 
the  head  of  City  Planning.  As  it  involves  but  inci- 
dentally the  improvement  of  living  conditions,  it  will  not 
be  dwelt  upon  further  here. 

It  is  not  the  housing  question  alone  which  results 
from  the  economic  condition  of  the  working  classes. 
Almost  all  of  the  so-called  social  welfare  work  of  the 
city  is  necessitated  by  the  fact  that  the  city  must  act  in 
order  to  insure  the  minima  of  decent  existence  to  that 
large  portion  of  the  community  which  is  financially  not 


SOCIAL   WELFARE  i6i 

able  to  secure  those  minima  itself.  Reasonable  hours 
of  work  and  adequate  wages  are  the  fundamental  pre- 
requisites for  improving  the  condition  of  the  working 
classes  to  the  point  where  they  will  be  economically 
able  to  provide  for  themselves  those  things  which  must 
now  be  secured  to  them,  if  at  all,  by  governmental  action. 
But  hours  of  work  and  amount  of  wages  are  matters 
that  are  almost  wholly  without  the  power  of  the  city 
to  influence.  To  a  certain  extent,  however,  the  munici- 
pality can  have  an  influence  on  working  conditions  in 
the  city,  and  to  that  extent  the  obligation  rests  upon  it 
even  though  the  fundamental  causes  are  beyond  its  con- 
trol. The  city  as  an  employer  of  labor,  for  instance,  can 
set  an  example  to  other  employers  in  the  matter  of  rea- 
sonable hours  of  work  and  proper  compensation.  If 
the  hours  of  labor  and  the  scale  of  wages  generally 
prevalent  among  private  employers  are  obviously  unfair 
to  the  working  classes,  the  city  need  not  be  guided  by 
those  conditions,  but  can  and  should  establish  conditions 
in  its  own  employ  which  are  fair  and  just.  The  eight- 
hour  working  day  and  a  scale  of  wages  equal  to  the  best 
paid  in  private  employments  for  similar  work  are  cer- 
tainly the  minimum  conditions,  and  in  certain  cases  the 
city  should  clearly  go  beyond  those  minima.  Directly, 
therefore,  the  city  will  be  improving  the  condition  of 
those  who  are  in  its  employ,  and  indirectly  it  wall  tend 
to  raise  the  standards  in  private  employments.  To  urge 
the  advisability  of  having  the  city,  as  an  employer  of 
labor,  lead  the  way  in  establishing  reasonable  hours  and 
fair  wages  does  not  mean  that  the  city  should  not,  on  its 
side,  insist  upon  a  high  standard  of  industry  on  the 
part  of  its  unskilled  employees  and  upon  a  high  order 
of  training  and  ability  on  the  part  of  its  skilled  laborers 
and  employees.     Though  cities  have  not,  as  a  rule,  set 


i62  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

high  standards  of  fairness  in  treating  their  employees, 
they  have  been  even  more  remiss  in  insisting  upon  high 
standards  of  accomplishment  on  the  part  of  the  persons 
on  their  payroll.  In  other  words,  though  the  standard 
of  wages  may  have  been  unreasonably  low  for  a  good 
day's  work,  it  was  actually  too  high  for  the  quality  of 
returns  demanded  and  secured  by  the  city.  The  prac- 
tice of  rewarding  political  services  with  places  on  the 
city's  payroll  has,  therefore,  resulted  in  the  city  actually 
paying  too  much  for  the  majority  of  its  employees.  If 
that  species  of  graft  were  done  away  with  entirely  and 
the  city  secured  a  fair  day's  work  from  its  employees 
it  could  actually  save  money  and  still  pay  a  higher  wage 
than  under  present  conditions.  Nor  does  this  take  into 
consideration  the  ultimate  economy  of  securing  a  living 
wage  and  reasonable  hours  to  every  inhabitant  of  the 
community.  There  is  also  an  indirect  method  by  which 
cities  can  influence  hours  of  labor  and  amount  of  wages 
in  certain  private  employments.  That  is  the  power  cities 
have  over  public  utility  corporations  through  the  inser- 
tion of  provisions  covering  these  points  in  the  franchises 
granted.  This  is  a  matter  which  will  be  touched  upon 
in  the  chapter  on  public  utility  regulation. 

Aside  from  the  hours  of  labor  and  the  wages  which 
can  be  thus  indirectly  affected  to  a  certain  extent  by  the 
city,  there  are  other  working  conditions  which  can  be 
directly  improved  by  municipal  action.  So,  for  instance, 
the  sanitary  conditions  under  which  work  is  carried  on 
in  the  city  clearly  combes  within  the  public  health  au- 
thority of  the  municipality.  The  proper  heating,  light- 
ing and  ventilating  of  places  of  labor  can  be  insisted 
upon  by  the  city  in  the  interests  of  public  health,  even 
if  there  is  no  state  factory  law  covering  those  matters. 
The  moral  conditions  surrounding  places  of  labor  are 


SOCIAL   WELFARE  163 

frequently  in  need  of  improvement,  especially  in  the 
interest  of  working  girls.  This  can  be  accomplished  by 
the  city  under  its  general  police  power.  Recreation 
facilities  can  be  used  to  improve  greatly  the  conditions 
of  the  workers.  Private  employers  are  beginning  to 
realize  that  the  working  efficiency  of  the  individual  can 
be  increased  by  affording  reasonable  opportunities  for 
rest  and  recreation  and  by  improving  the  general  condi- 
tions under  which  work  is  done.  That  realization  is 
coming  very  slowly,  however,  and  if  the  state  does  not 
insist  upon  recreational  facilities  for  factory  workers 
the  city  must  provide  such  opportunities.  The  whole 
subject  of  recreation  is  one  that  will  be  considered  a 
little  later,  but  is  mentioned  here  as  showing  one  of  the 
ways  in  which  the  city  can  aid  in  improving  working 
conditions. 

Among  the  most  serious  difficulties  that  threaten  the 
wage  earning  classes  is  the  matter  of  unemployment. 
In  a  very  real  sense  this  is,  of  course,  a  problem  of  in- 
come, for  if  a  certain  income  is  necessary  each  year  to 
maintain  a  family  in  the  minimum  standard  of  decency 
which  society  should  require,  it  is  not  the  earnings  of 
a  day  or  a  week  that  are  important,  but  the  earnings  for 
the  year.  Like  the  matter  of  wages,  furthermore,  un- 
employment is  caused,  for  the  most  part,  by  factors  over 
which  the  city  can  have  no  control.  Like  insufficient 
wages  also,  unemployment  causes  conditions  from  which 
the  city  is  the  sufferer  and  which  the  city  has  to  meet, 
namely,  pauperism  and  dependence.  To  a  certain  ex- 
tent, fortunately,  the  city  can  adopt  measures  that  will 
tend  to  improve  the  conditions  with  regard  to  unem- 
ployment. There  are  two  kinds  of  unemployment  arising 
in  a  city,  one  of  which  may  be  termed  normal  unemploy- 
ment, the  other  extraordinary  unemployment.     Normal 


i64  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

unemployment  is  due  to  two  causes,  one  is  the  excess  of 
workers  over  available  opportunities  for  work,  the  other 
is  the  failure  of  those  desiring  work  and  those  needing 
workers  to  get  together.  The  former  condition  is  one 
that,  as  has  been  seen,  is  not  within  the  power  of  the 
city  alone  to  prevent.  Even  should  the  city  undertake 
to  employ  in  public  works  of  one  kind  or  another  all 
persons  who  were  without  employment — a  measure 
which,  though  extreme,  might  be  more  economical  than 
having  to  support  as  paupers  the  workers  whom  unem- 
ployment drives  to  seek  public  aid — it  would  be  neces- 
sary, in  order  to  protect  a  city  against  a  deluge  of  un- 
employed from  other  communities,  to  authorize  a  city 
to  exclude  immigration  into  the  city  on  the  part  of 
workers  in  occupations  that  were  already  overfilled. 
Such  a  power  does  not  reside  in  cities,  however,  at  the 
present,  nor  is  it  likely  to  be  intrusted  to  them  in  the 
near  future.  But  the  unemployment  which  is  due  to 
the  failure  of  employers  and  unemployed  to  get  together 
can  largely  be  eliminated.  Where  this  matter  is  left  to 
private  agencies,  as  it  commonly  is  in  American  cities, 
the  interests  of  the  persons  operating  the  agencies  are 
frequently  absolutely  opposed  to  the  interests  of  the 
persons  to  be  served  and  much  fraud  and  hardship  has 
resulted.  It  is  eminently  proper  and  desirable,  there- 
fore, that  the  city  undertake  this  work,  since  its  interests 
are  entirely  identified  with  those  of  the  persons  to  be 
aided.  Municipal  employment  agencies  are  fortunately 
becoming  more  and  more  common  in  American  cities, 
though  a  mere  beginning  has  been  made. 

Extraordinary  unemployment  is  the  unemployment  due 
to  waves  of  financial  depression  and  crises  which  always 
result  in  a  great  many  persons  being  thrown  out  of  work 
who  are  normally  engaged  in  earning  wages.    The  causes 


SOCIAL    WELFARE  165 

of  general  financial  crises  or  periods  of  depression  are 
obviously  quite  removed  from  tlie  possibility  of  any 
municipal  control,  but  here,  again,  the  consequences  may 
be  partially  avoided  by  municipal  action.  There  is 
always  a  great  deal  of  work  to  be  done  in  any  city  in 
the  way  of  public  improvements,  which  forms  part  of 
a  general  program  of  improvement,  but  which,  because 
it  is  not  a  matter  of  immediate  pressing  necessity,  is 
postponed  from  one  time  to  another  to  permit  of  more 
immediate  needs  being  filled.  Now  if  that  work  could 
be  undertaken  in  times  of  financial  depression  the  city 
would  profit  by  having  the  desired  improvements  as  well 
as  providing  an  extra  amount  of  work  to  meet  the  extra 
amount  of  unemployment.  The  difficulty  that  would  be 
experienced  in  carrying  out  such  a  plan  would  be  that 
the  voting  of  moneys  for  public  improvements  and  the 
sale  of  the  bonds,  when  voted,  would  both  be  much  more 
difficult  to  accomplish  in  times  of  financial  depression 
than  in  normal  times.  The  suggestion  has,  therefore, 
been  made  that  a  sinking  fund  be  created  out  of  the 
current  income  of  the  city,  perhaps  by  special  tax,  which 
would  be  set  aside  and  used  only  in  emergency  cases  of 
this  nature.  Aside  from  the  beneficial  results  following 
from  creating  useful  work  for  the  temporarily  unem- 
ployed, this  plan  commends  itself  as  a  practical  means 
of  securing  those  public  improvements  which  may  be  an 
integral  part  of  a  city  plan,  but  which,  because  less 
pressing  or  less  popular  than  other  needs,  might  other- 
wise never  come  into  their  own. 

There  are  other  financial  dangers  that  confront  the 
man  or  woman  who  is  living  on  the  narrow  margin  of 
day  wages.  Unemployment  or  loss  of  wages  may  be 
caused  by  injury  or  sickness.  If  the  state  does  not  re- 
quire employees'  insurance  and  private  corporations 
12 


i66  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

cannot,  or  will  not,  provide  it  at  reasonable  rates,  there 
is  no  reason  why  the  city,  which  is,  after  all,  the  chief 
sufferer  from  all  of  these  dangers  to  the  working 
classes,  should  not  take  the  necessary  steps  to  afford 
those  facilities.  As  has  been  stated  again  and  again,  if 
financial  disaster  overtakes  the  persons  living  on  the 
lowest  possible  margin,  they  become  paupers  and  hence 
charges  of  the  community.  Aside  from  all  humanitarian 
considerations,  therefore,  and  looked  at  purely  from  the 
point  of  view  of  financial  outlays,  these  measures  of 
social  amelioration  must  be  compared  in  cost  with  the 
expense  of  caring  for  the  individuals  concerned  as 
paupers,  or  even  worse,  as  criminals.  Cities,  in  Europe 
at  least,  have  found  it  desirable  to  provide  other  finan- 
cial facilities  for  the  element  in  the  community  which  is 
financially  weakest.  So  some  cities  operate  a  building 
and  loan  department  which  enables  the  working  class, 
which  is  without  capital  or  collateral,  to  build  their  own 
homes  at  reasonable  rates  of  interest  and  on  easy  terms 
of  payment.  Many  European  cities  also  provide  loan 
facilities  on  personal  effects  at  reasonable  rates.  This 
policy  is  in  recognition  of  the  fact  that  many  times  in 
the  lives  of  the  poorer  families  it  is  necessary  to  secure 
a  small  sum  of  money  to  meet  emergency  expenses. 
Private  pawnshops  prey  upon  this  necessity  by  requir- 
ing usurious  and  ruinous  rates  of  interest,  and  therefore 
frequently  destroy  where  they  pretend  to  help.  The  city, 
therefore,  should  take  over  this  activity,  and  could  do 
so  without  incurring  an  added  financial  burden  even 
when  charging  reasonable  interest  rates.  This  plan  has 
the  further  incidental  but  very  important  added  advan- 
tage of  doing  away  with  a  serious  encouragement  to 
theft  by  destroying  the  principal  market  for  stolen 
goods.     Municipal   savings  banks   have   been    found  to 


SOCIAL   WELFARE  167 

encourage  the  wage-earning  class  to  increase  their  capi- 
tal by  saving  and  would  undoubtedly  prove  very  valu- 
able in  this  country,  where  the  disastrous  experience  of 
thousands  of  poor  people  with  private  savings  banks 
has  discouraged  the  practice  of  profitable  saving.  In- 
terest rates  could  be  as  high  as  in  private  institutions, 
the  security  could  be  virtually  absolute  and  the  money 
used  in  retiring  city  obligations  that  pay  a  higher  rate 
of  interest  and  in  other  profitable  ways.  These  are 
some  of  the  ways  in  which  modern  cities  are  showing 
their  realization  of  the  fact  that  the  welfare  of  the  city 
is  most  completely  bound  up  with  the  welfare  of  that 
largest  class  in  every  city,  the  wage-earning  class.  It  is 
worth  noting  again,  moreover,  that  this  program  of  social 
amelioration  has  been  carried  farthest,  not  in  the  demo- 
cratic countries  where  the  poor  are  supposed  to  be  the 
equal  of  the  rich  and  opportunities  are  supposed  to  be 
equal  for  all,  but  in  Germany,  the  classic  country  of 
class  distinction,  where  the  individual  is  popularly  sup- 
posed to  be  of  no  significance  and  bureaucracy  to  be  su- 
preme. 

One  aspect  of  the  significance  of  recreational  facilities 
as  a  means  of  social  betterment  was  touched  upon  in 
discussing  the  improvement  of  working  conditions.  Its 
scope,  however,  extends  much  farther  than  that  and 
touches  the  life  of  the  poorer  classes  at  many  points. 
Of  greatest  significance,  perhaps,  is  the  provision  of  recre- 
ational facilities  for  the  children  of  the  wage-earning 
classes,  a  need  that  is  beginning  to  be  met  through  the  ex- 
tension of  the  playground  movement.  The  modern  city 
realizes  that  numerous,  conveniently  located  and  prop- 
erly equipped  and  supervised  playgrounds  are  a  most  val- 
uable asset  from  many  points  of  view.  First  of  all  must 
be  put,  perhaps,  the  public  health  considerations.     Even 


i68  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

under  the  most  satisfactory  housing  system  that  could 
be  devised,  the  children  of  the  poor  in  the  crowded  dis- 
tricts will  lack  opportunities  for  healthful  recreation.  At 
present  the  city  streets  are  the  playgrounds  of  most  of 
the  children  in  the  tenement  districts,  and  most  danger- 
ous places  of  recreation  they  are.  Aside  from  the  con- 
tinual danger  to  life  and  Hmb  resulting  from  vehicular 
traffic,  there  is  the  further  danger  from  breathing  the  dust 
and  germ-laden  air  of  the  crowded  streets.  As  a  public 
health  measure,  therefore,  it  is  most  important  to  pro- 
vide the  children  with  playground  facilities.  From  the 
moral  point  of  view  the  matter  is  equally  important. 
Cellars,  alleys  and  crowded  streets  are  not  conducive  to 
a  healthy  kind  of  play  on  the  part  of  children.  In  fact, 
many  a  criminal  is  started  on  his  mistaken  path  in  the 
tough  children's  gangs  that  begin  by  imitating  their 
elders  in  games  of  robbery  and  crime  and  end  up  by 
emulating  them  in  the  real  activities.  The  open  play- 
ground, with  numerous  and  varied  devices  for  amusement 
and  exercise,  afifords  opportunities  for  a  kind  of  play  that 
develops  rather  than  destroys  the  moral  fibre  of  the  chil- 
dren. Under  sympathetic  direction  by  a  trained  and  per- 
sonally qualified  supervisor,  the  playground  may  be  made 
valuable  from  the  point  of  view  of  character  building 
without  depriving  it  of  that  element  of  spontaneity  which 
is  the  chief  attraction  of  play  to  the  children.  School 
grounds  can  always  be  used  advantageously  for  public 
playgrounds,  but  in  the  congested  districts  of  the  city, 
the  playgrounds  should  be  more  numerous  than  schools 
commonly  are,  because  more  room  is  needed  for  this 
purpose. 

Although  the  provision  of  the  recreational  facilities  for 
children  is  perhaps  the  most  important  aspect  of  public 
recreation,  there  is  an  almost  equally  necessary  field  for 


SOCIAL   WELFARE  169 

adult  recreation.  Generally  speaking,  the  recreational 
needs  of  the  adult  portion  of  the  working  population  are 
met  by  the  provision  of  open  spaces  where  fresh  air  may 
be  enjoyed  in  comfort.  But  opportunities  for  games,  such 
as  baseball,  football,  cricket,  and  others  that  do  not 
involve  an  expenditure  of  money  beyond  the  possibilities 
of  the  poorer  classes  are  also  valuable.  It  is,  however,  a 
mistaken  policy  for  cities  to  spend  great  sums  of  money 
in  furnishing  tennis  courts  and  golf  links,  while  the  poor- 
est classes  are  inadequately  taken  care  of.  Both  of 
these  games  require  an  expenditure  for  equipment,  par- 
ticularly in  the  case  of  golf,  which  puts  them  quite  out 
of  the  reach  of  the  vast  majority  of  the  poorer  classes 
who  arc  in  need  of  recreational  facilities.  Of  course, 
it  is  desirable  also  for  the  city  to  make  provision  for  rec- 
reational facilities  for  other  elements  of  the  community 
besides  the  wage-earning  class  with  the  lowest  incomes, 
but  the  former  are  much  less  in  need  of  public  aid  in 
securing  their  recreation  than  are  the  latter.  The  dan- 
ger is  that  a  city,  in  putting  in  an  expensive  system  of 
public  golf  links,  for  instance,  will  either  exhaust  the 
money  available  for  recreational  purposes  or  will  think 
it  has  done  its  duty  in  the  expenditure  of  money  in  that 
way,  when  other  more  pressing  needs  have  not  been  met. 
Public  baths  are  a  convenience  that  have  both  a  sanitary 
and  recreational  aspect.  In  that  respect,  the  ancient  Ro- 
man cities  were  far  in  advance  of  the  average  American 
city  today,  to  which  municipal  baths  are  more  or  less 
an  innovation.  The  public  bath  movement  is  growing  in 
this  country,  and  in  many  European  cities  has  been  well 
handled,  but  its  importance  cannot  be  overestimated. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  a  large  portion  of  the  poorer 
population  in  the  tenement  districts  are  without  bathing 
facilities,   the   sanitary   importance   of   the   public   bath 


I70  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

becomes  manifest.  It  may  be  well  to  point  out  again, 
at  this  place,  that  the  common  conception  of  the  aversion 
of  the  poorer  classes  to  cleanliness  rests  upon  insufficient 
evidence  and  prejudice,  and  that  investigation  bears  out 
clearly  the  contention  that  w^here  opportunities  for  clean- 
liness are  afforded,  the  poorer  classes  are  willing  and 
anxious  to  take  advantage  of  them.  This  is  the  expe- 
rience of  cities  that  have  provided  public  bathing  facili- 
ties. Public  gymnasiums  are  another  valuable  recrea- 
tional opportunity.  It  is  obvious  that  in  the  case  of  these 
recreational  facilities,  as  well  as  of  all  others,  their  chief 
value  will  be  destroyed  if  they  are  not  made  free.  Even 
a  very  small  fee  will  often  make  all  the  difference  be- 
tween the  possibility  of  their  being  used  or  not  being 
used  by  a  family  that  is  living  right  on  the  lower  margin. 

Some  other  recreational  agencies  were  mentioned  in 
the  consideration  of  the  city's  educational  work,  such  as 
museums,  botanical  and  zoological  gardens,  public  lec- 
tures and  concerts,  etc.,  because  they  had  an  educational 
value  as  well  as  a  recreational  one.  Public  dance  halls 
as  a  means  of  recreation  and  exercise  were  considered  un- 
der the  head  of  public  morals,  because  they  have  so  com- 
monly been  regarded  as  a  source  of  moral  danger.  As 
has  been  seen,  however,  the  public  dance  hall,  if  managed 
properly  by  the  city,  can  be  made  to  fill  a  very  real  want 
and  a  pretty  universal  desire  on  the  part,  at  least,  of  the 
younger  element  in  the  city's  poorer  population.  The 
same  is  true  of  skating  rinks,  both  for  roller  skating 
and  ice  skating.  The  privately  owned  rinks  afford  op- 
portunities of  recreation  to  a  portion  of  the  population, 
but  not  to  the  portion  that  is  most  in  need  of  them. 

One  further  consideration  must  be  mentioned  before 
leaving  the  subject  of  public  recreation,  a  subject  which 
has  been  touched  upon  already  in  the  chapter  on  public 


SOCIAL    WELFARE  171 

morals,  that  is,  the  question  of  Sunday  amusements. 
Whatever  may  be  thought  of  Sunday  activities  by  people 
that  have  time  and  money  to  enjoy  amusements  during  the 
week,  it  seems  impossible  to  justify  the  attitude  which 
would  deny  to  the  people  who  have  only  Sunday  for 
recreation,  the  opportunity  to  make  the  most  of  that  day. 
It  would  seem  to  be  too  clear  for  discussion  that  the 
unfortunate  element  in  the  community  which  slaves  from 
morning  to  night  the  whole  week  through  and  is  too  worn 
out  at  the  end  of  the  day's  work  to  do  anything  but  go 
to  bed,  will  be  better  off  physically,  mentally  and  morally 
if  they  are  afforded  the  opportunity  of  getting  some  real 
pleasure  and  enjoyment  out  of  Sunday  in  their  own  way, 
so  long  as  they  do  not  interfere  with  the  observance  of 
the  Sabbath  by  the  other  elements  in  the  community  in 
their  own  way.  For  a  city,  therefore,  to  recognize  the 
value  of  public  baths,  dance  halls,  skating  rinks  or  other 
means  of  amusement  and  recreation  and  then  to  keep 
them  closed  on  the  only  day  on  which  they  can  be  made 
use  of  at  all  by  that  part  of  the  population  which  needs 
them  most,  is  comparable  to  erecting  a  hospital  and  then 
refusing  patients  because  they  arc  sick.  The  same  con- 
siderations, of  course,  apply  to  amusements  which  are 
not  managed  by  the  city,  but  which  are  enjoyed  by  the 
working  population  of  the  city,  like  Sunday  baseball  and 
Sunday  theaters.  No  one  who  has  been  brought  up  to 
believe  that  such  amusements  are  wicked  on  the  Sab- 
bath need  participate  in  them.  On  the  other  hand,  neither 
need  he  impose  his  own  convictions  upon  others  less  for- 
tunate who.  whatever  their  religious  traditions  may  be, 
will  be  deprived  of  practically  all  opportunities  for  any 
amusement  if  the  Sunday  amusement  is  forbidden. 

Leaving  now  the  matter  of  recreational  opportunities, 
there  are  a  few  other  social  welfare  activities  which  are 


172  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

coming  to  be  recognized  as  proper  undertakings  for  the 
city  in  aiding  that  class  in  the  community  which  is  eco- 
nomically unable  to  help  itself  properly,  beyond  furnish- 
ing the  most  indispensable  elements  of  existence:  that 
is,  the  portion  of  the  community  which  is  not  actually 
pauperized,  but  which  is  so  near  the  lower  limit  that  any 
misfortune  or  unusual  expense  may  at  any  time  sink 
them  below  the  level  of  self-support.  It  has  already 
been  shown  that  in  many  cases,  particularly  of  conta- 
gious diseases,  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  city  to  provide 
medical  help  where  that  cannot  be  provided  by  the  in- 
dividuals, for  the  purpose  of  safeguarding  others.  But 
there  are  other  cases,  where  the  afflicted  individual  him- 
self is  the  only  one  concerned  and  where  the  provision 
of  medical  assistance  is  a  social  welfare  measure  rather 
than  a  public  health  measure.  It  is  well  to  point  out, 
at  this  place,  that  the  free  clinics  frequently  provided  by 
medical  schools  in  our  cities  do  not  commonly  furnish 
the  kind  of  medical  aid  required.  The  poorer  classes  in 
our  cities  have  come  to  have  a  dread  of  free  clinics  and 
free  hospital  beds,  and  not  without  reason.  Too  often  the 
charity  patients,  as  they  are  called,  are  looked  upon  as 
legitimate  laboratory  material  upon  which  the  doctors 
can  try  experiments  which  they  would  not  dare  to  prac- 
tice upon  their  paying  patients.  The  use  of  such  cases 
by  medical  students  and  nurses  learning  their  work  is  not 
objectionable,  provided  proper  supervision  is  assured,  for 
the  doctor  and  the  nurse  must  get  their  practical  expe- 
rience in  some  way  in  order  to  become  efficient  in  their 
profession.  But  the  deliberate  experimenting  with  the 
non-paying  patients,  without  their  knowledge  and  con- 
sent, is  certainly  not  social  welfare  work,  whatever  value 
it  may  have  from  the  point  of  view  of  advancing  medical 
science.    The  city  should  provide  medical  attendance  and 


SOCIAL    WELFARE  173 

hospital  facilities,  when  needed,  at  rates  which  the  work- 
ing classes  can  pay,  without  any  charge  at  all  when  neces- 
sary, and  such  care  should  be  of  the  best  kind. 

Another  kind  of  professional  aid  which  the  poor  man 
often  needs  but  can  seldom,  if  ever,  pay  for,  is  legal  ad- 
vice. The  poor  are  the  victims  of  tricks  and  cheating  from 
many  quarters,  and  their  very  inability  to  employ  private 
counsel  makes  them  a  fair  target  for  extortion  in  a  vari- 
ety of  forms.  A  legal  aid  department  in  the  city,  where 
every  citizen  can  receive  efficient  legal  advice,  is,  there- 
fore, a  measure  of  social  justice  which  but  relatively  few 
cities  have  so  far  established.  Whether  or  not  law  and 
medicine  are  professions  which  should  be  entirely  social- 
ized, as  some  authorities  claim,  that  is,  taken  over  and 
administered  by  the  government  so  that  every  man  shall 
stand  on  an  even  footing  with  his  fellowmen  in  the  fun- 
damental matters  affecting  his  health  and  his  property, 
certainly  those  who  are  unable  to  protect  themselves  in 
these  directions  should  be  looked  after  by  the  com- 
munity. 

So  far,  there  have  been  considered  the  social  welfare 
activities  of  cities  which  are  meant  to  make  life  more 
decent  and  bearable  for  those  who  are  living  on  the  low- 
est margin  and  are  able  to  provide  themselves,  even  un- 
der the  most  favorable  conditions,  only  with  the  bare 
necessities  of  life.  There  is  still  another  class  in  the 
community  which  is  even  more  in  need  of  governmental 
aid,  and  that  is  the  pauper  class,  the  persons  who  are 
without  even  those  minima  of  existence,  who  have  no 
food  to  eat,  or  no  clothes  to  wear,  or  no  shelter  to  cover 
them,  perhaps  none  of  these  things.  The  poor,  it  is  said, 
we  have  with  us  always,  and  as  a  phenomenon  of  city 
life,  they  are  as  old  as  cities  themselves.  In  Greek  and 
Roman  cities  there  was  some  governmental  activity  with 


174  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

regard  to  these  unfortunates,  but  it  consisted  solely  in  fur- 
nishing them  with  food  when  starving,  and  was  hap- 
hazard and  unscientific  in  the  extreme.  In  the  Middle 
Ages  and  in  the  early  part  of  the  modern  era  practically 
nothing  was  done  for  the  poor  by  the  government.  The 
succor  of  the  poor  was  early  an  important  function  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  later  exercised  also  by  the  Protestant 
sects,  and  in  some  countries  today  it  is  still  left  largely 
to  the  church.  In  the  United  States,  poor  relief,  though 
theoretically  a  governmental  function  and  almost  every- 
where imposed  upon  the  county  as  the  unit,  is  in  our  cities 
generally  performed  chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  by  the  churches 
and  private  charitable  organizations,  as  well  as  by  in- 
dividual aid. 

The  objections  to  handling  the  situation  by  individual 
responses  to  individual  appeals  are  manifold,  so  obvious, 
indeed,  that  the  continuation  of  this  method  in  most  of 
our  cities  can  hardly  be  understood.  In  the  first  place, 
street  begging  and  house-to-house  begging  are  incapable 
of  adequate  supervision  and  offer  an  invitation  to  fraud 
on  the  part  of  lazy  individuals,  who  find  it  easier  to  earn 
a  living  by  imposing  upon  the  kindheartedness  of  the 
average  human  being  than  to  turn  to  honest  work.  Not 
only  does  that  demoralize  the  individual  himself,  if  he 
is  capable  of  earning  a  living  at  honest  work,  but  it  de- 
prives really  deserving  cases  of  that  support,  and  tends  to 
make  the  defrauded  persons,  whose  sympathies  have  been 
enlisted  in  undeserving  cases,  deaf  to  further  appeals.  The 
quality  of  sympathy  is  certainly  a  most  desirable  one  and 
fortunately  it  is  very  general.  The  person  who  is  ap- 
proached, therefore,  with  a  pitiable  story  and  appeal  for 
aid  in  his  home  or  on  the  street,  finds  it  difficult  to  refuse 
the  appeal  without  a  certain  disagreeable  feeling  of  a  duty 
left  undone.    It  is  that  fact  which  makes  the  eradication 


SOCIAL    WELFARE  175 

of  begging  so  difficult.  It  is  easy  enougli  to  show  that 
as  compared  with  properly  organized  and  directed  re- 
lief work,  individual  giving  to  uninvestigated  cases  is  not 
only  ineffective  but  actually  harmful,  and  yet  such  giv- 
ing continues  and  is  practiced  even  by  persons  who  are 
able  to  see  the  injurious  results.  Until  indiscriminate 
almsgiving  of  that  kind  is  discontinued  there  is  no  pos- 
sibility that  any  real  progress  will  be  made  in  the  work 
of  scientific  poor  relief.  For  that  reason,  and  because  of 
the  almost  irresistible  appeal  which  individual  cases  make 
to  the  kindhearted,  it  is  necessary  that  street  begging  and 
house-to-house  begging  be  absolutely  forbidden  in  the 
city.  Of  course  such  a  measure  assumes  that  some  other 
means  of  caring  for  the  poor  is  provided,  for  unless  the 
charitable  giver  were  convinced  that  the  deserving  cases 
of  need  would  be  properly  cared  for,  he  would  continue  to 
encourage  begging  by  giving  to  beggars,  in  spite  of  all 
laws. 

In  realization  of  the  inadequacy  and  the  actually  harm- 
ful consequences  of  individual  indiscriminate  dispensing 
of  charity,  the  work  of  poor  relief  has  generally  been 
looked  after  in  our  cities  by  organizations,  either  by  the 
various  churches  or  by  special  charitable  associations. 
Much  of  this  work  has  been  carried  on  successfully,  but 
much  of  it  has  been  little  better  than  the  unintelligent  indi- 
vidual action  which  it  was  meant  to  replace.  Indeed,  even 
fraud  has  been  practiced  to  a  very  laige  extent  by  or- 
ganizations established  for  the  purpose  of  soliciting  funds 
in  the  name  of  the  poor  and  then  diverting  the  money  to 
individual,  selfish  uses.  The  number  of  such  fake  chari- 
table undertakings  is  very  large,  and  they  continue  to 
flourish  because  of  the  very  universality  of  the  charitable 
impulse.  Even  when  all  organizations  in  a  city  are  act- 
ing in  perfect  good  faith  and  in  the  most  approved  man- 


176  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

ner  possible,  the  work  is  not  properly  done.  When  a 
number  of  independent  bodies  are  engaged  in  that  work, 
there  is  bound  to  be  overlapping  and  consequent  waste 
of  energy.  The  value  of  close  cooperation  and  co5rdina- 
tion  has,  therefore,  led  in  many  cities  to  the  formation 
of  a  single  association  known  as  the  United  Charities  of 
the  city  which  comprises  all  the  other  legitimate  charitable 
undertakings  of  the  community.  Curiously  enough  even 
in  the  altruistic  work  of  poor  relief,  petty  quarrels,  par- 
ticularly interdenominational  jealousies  and  the  desire  on 
the  part  of  some  of  the  churches  to  use  the  dispensing 
of  charity  as  a  means  of  proselytizing,  have  in  some  cases 
prevented  the  organization  of  the  united  charities  and  in 
other  cases  have  interfered  with  the  smooth  working 
of  the  same.  There  is  no  question  that  the  federated 
charity  work  marks  a  great  improvement  over  the  in- 
dividual efforts  of  persons  or  associations.  At  the  same 
time,  it  is  believed  that  the  best  interests  of  this  im- 
portant work  demand  that  it  be  assumed  by  the  city  as 
a  regular  municipal  function. 

It  may  be  asked  why  the  work  of  poor  relief  should 
be  considered  a  governmental  function  and  not  rather  a 
private  concern,  as  it  has  been  and  still  is  in  many  cities. 
The  answer  is  perfectly  clear.  In  the  last  analysis, 
the  reason  why  the  government  should  look  after  poor 
relief  is  a  clear  necessity.  Leaving  aside  all  considera- 
tions of  humanitarianism  and  the  obligation  of  the  govern- 
ment to  serve  all  its  citizens  according  to  their  needs, 
the  function  of  poor  relief  can  be  regarded  properly  as 
an  activity  in  the  interests  of  public  safety.  To  demon- 
strate this,  it  is  only  necessary  to  consider  what  would  be 
the  result  if  neither  the  government  nor  private  activity 
should  make  adequate  provision  for  the  destitute  and 
needy  in  the  community.    The  answer  is  obvious.     Self- 


SOCIAL   WELFARE  177 

preservation  is  the  highest  law  of  nature,  and  necessity 
knows  no  human  law.  People  who  are  starving  or  freez- 
ing to  death,  or,  worse  still,  see  their  children  in  that  con- 
dition, do  not  recognize  the  sanctity  of  the  laws  protect- 
ing property.  Even  our  worst  jails  hold  no  horrors  for 
them  comparable  to  the  horrors  of  such  a  situation.  The 
uncared-for  pauper,  therefore,  naturally  and  inevitably 
tends  to  become  what  society  considers  a  criminal,  that 
is,  a  person  who  does  not  admit  the  binding  nature  of 
society's  restrictions.  The  result,  therefore,  of  permitting 
the  number  of  destitute  persons  to  increase,  without  mak- 
ing provision  for  them,  is  to  multiply  the  number  of  law- 
less persons  and  so  to  endanger  the  very  existence  of  the 
state.  Obviously,  then,  the  government  is  chargeable  with 
a  duty,  the  neglect  of  which  may  entail  such  serious 
consequences  for  the  safety  of  the  state. 

Though  the  safety  and  welfare  of  the  state  in  general 
are  aflfected  by  the  failure  to  care  for  the  paupers,  the 
duty  to  look  after  the  destitute  is,  in  this  country  and  in 
Europe,  commonly  imposed  upon  the  smallest  units  of 
government.  In  England,  the  poor  law  union  is  a  small 
governmental  division  made  up  of  parishes  for  the  pur- 
poses of  poor  relief;  in  Prussia,  a  similar  unit  exists,  and 
in  the  United  States  it  is  commonly  the  county.  But 
the  American  county,  generally  speaking,  has  not  dealt 
satisfactorily  with  the  problem  of  poor  relief  within 
cities  that  are  contained  in  the  county.  Indeed,  the  county 
government  tends  to  consider  the  city  as  being  chargeable 
with  poor  rehef  within  its  limits,  and  restricts  itself  to 
poor  relief  in  the  rural  portions  of  the  county.  It  is  not 
possible,  at  this  place,  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  the 
way  in  which  counties  ordinarily  perform  their  function 
of  providing  poor  relief.  It  is  sufficient  to  say,  that  even 
for  the  rural  portions  of  the  county  the  system  is  un- 


178  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

scientific,   expensive,   and   in   every   way   unsatisfactory, 
while,   as   far  as  the  cities   are   concerned,   the   county 
aid   for  the  poor  scarcely  ever  even  scratches  the  sur- 
face of  the  pauper  problem.     It  may  be  mentioned  in 
passing,   that  until   we   develop   a  much  more  efficient 
machinery  for  seeing  that  the  charge  for  public  relief  is 
imposed  upon  the  locality  properly  chargeable   with   it, 
that  is,  the  district  in  which  the  pauper  has  his  domicile, 
one  unfortunate  result  of  systematizing  and  improving 
the  poor  relief  work  in  a  given  community  will  be  to 
attract  to  it  the  poor  and  needy  from  all  the  surround- 
ing districts,  where  they  know  their  wants  will  not  be  so 
well  looked  after.     In  Prussia,  a  community  which  con- 
stitutes a  poor  relief  district  can  refuse  to  admit  a  new- 
comer for  settlement,  if  it  appears  that  he  is  not  in  a 
condition  to  support  himself  and  family,  much  as  our  im- 
migration officials  refuse  admission  to  immigrants  who 
are  likely  to  become  a  public  charge.     In  that  case,  the 
individual  is  sent  back  to  the  district  in  which  he  has 
his  domicile  for  purposes  of  poor  relief,  and  that  district 
must  bear  the  costs  of  transportation.     Under  such  cir- 
cumstances, it  is  quite  possible  to  insist  that  each  dis- 
trict look  properly  after  its  poor,  without  penalizing  it, 
for    the    efficiency    displayed,    by    increasing    its    burden 
through  the  advent  of  the  poor  from  less  active  districts. 
The  entire  machinery  and  system  of  public  poor  relief, 
therefore,    needs   overhauling   and    modernizing    in    the 
United  States,  but  that  does  not  diminish  the  advisability 
or  the  need  of  having  cities  take  the  matter  of  poor  re- 
lief in  hand  for  the  best  solution  of  the  problems  under 
present  conditions. 

The  work  of  directing  the  charitable  activities  of  the 
city  should  be  intrusted  to  a  well-trained  and  personally 
qualified    administrative   official.      Indiscriminate   giving 


SOCIAL   WELFARE  179 

is  just  as  detrimental  to  the  best  interests  of  all  con- 
cerned, if  it  is  practiced  by  the  city,  as  if  it  is  practiced 
by  individuals.  But  scientific  charity  work  requires  train- 
ing and  experience.  The  problem  of  poor  relief  is  not 
merely  a  problem  of  preventing  starvation,  homelessness 
or  nakedness.  If  that  were  the  only  factor  involved,  the 
provision  of  a  public  poorhouse  large  enough  to  accom- 
modate all  who  apply  would  solve  the  situation.  The 
physically  or  mentally  incapacitated  must  be  looked  after 
in  that  way  in  public  institutions.  Even  there  investiga- 
tion and  care  would  be  needed  to  prevent  fraud  and  im- 
position and  to  make  certain  that  there  are  no  relatives 
capable  of  supporting  the  individual.  But  under  present 
conditions  of  society  there  are  many  able-bodied  men  and 
women  who,  through  sickness,  unemployment  or  other 
misfortune,  are  without  the  means  of  providing  them- 
selves with  the  necessities  of  life.  These  individuals  may 
be  termed  the  temporarily  incapacitated,  as  distinguished 
from  those  who  are  absolutely  and  permanently  helpless. 
It  is  obvious  that  these,  also,  must  be  prevented  from 
starving  and  freezing;  but  the  great  danger  in  dealing 
with  these  persons  is  that  the  temporarily  incapacitated 
will  become  permanently  disinclined  to  work,  having  once 
enjoyed  the  possibilities  of  living  without  working.  This 
pauperizing  effect  of  merely  ministering  to  the  imme- 
diate wants  of  the  unfortunate,  without  making  every 
effort  to  make  him  self-supporting  and  no  longer  a  pub- 
lic charge,  is  one  of  the  curses  of  the  system  of  private 
charities.  To  help  a  man  over  an  emergency,  therefore, 
without  causing  him  to  lose  his  self-respect,  energ\'  and 
initiative,  and  to  put  him  in  the  way  of  recovering  his 
economic  independence  is  the  great  problem  of  poor  re- 
lief, and  one  that  the  ordinary  layman  does  not  com- 
prehend.    It  is   for  that   reason  that  poor   relief   must 


i8o  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

be  a  professional  undertaking,  not  an  amateur's  or  dilet- 
tant's  work. 

The  objection  is  frequently  raised  that  to  make  the 
work  of  poor  relief  an  official  function  and  to  forbid  it 
to  the  ordinary  citizen  is  to  substitute  red  tape  and  rule 
of  thumb  for  kind  impulses  and  generosity  in  an  activity 
where  above  all  else  human  sympathy  is  needed,  and  to 
stifle  the  generous  sentiments  experienced  in  voluntary 
giving.  To  this  it  may  be  answered  that  to  make  charity 
work  a  truly  municipal  function  is  not  to  take  the  human 
element  out  of  the  work  nor  to  deprive  the  individual 
of  the  opportunity  to  obey  generous  and  humanitarian 
impulses.  The  work  of  investigating  the  charity  cases 
in  a  large  city  requires  an  army  of  workers,  if  it  is  to 
be  successfully  conducted.  To  employ  paid  employees  for 
that  work  would  impose  a  tremendous  financial  burden 
and  would  tend  to  interfere  with  the  possibility  of  sym- 
pathetic human  contact  at  this  important  stage  of  the 
proceedings.  Here  is  a  situation,  par  excellence,  calling 
for  voluntary  citizen  cooperation.  Under  the  so-called 
Elberfelder  system  of  poor  relief,  found  in  many  German 
cities,  every  citizen  is  under  obligation  to  engage,  to  a 
certain  extent,  in  poor  relief  work  in  his  district  without 
pay,  and  in  Berlin  thousands  of  citizens  are  so  employed. 
This  insures  individual  examination  of  needy  cases  by 
persons  who  in  no  sense  have  the  official's  point  of  view, 
add  iwhose  individual  services,  though  slight,  total  up  to 
aiii:;asit(|)nishing  figure.  In  the  same  way,  the  fact  that 
poor;  i>eLii^f  is  so  fundamental  an  obligation  of  the  commu- 
A'ifcy  t'l?Qt)i  every  one  should  be  expected  to  contribute  a 
pr<i)ppintiionate  share  in  taxes  for  that  purpose,  does  not 
pirevent' I  tlae  (possibility  and  desirability  of  enlisting  in- 
dividual'! aid  of  the  more  well-to-do  by  private  subscrip- 
Dionji   Tfafe.  needs  and  possibilities  of  poor  relief  work  in 


SOCIAL    WELFARE  i8i 

cities  are  so  great,  and  the  problem  of  providing  enough 
income  by  taxation  for  all  the  needs  of  the  city  is  so 
difficult,  that  no  city  can  ever  hope  to  fulfill  its  obliga- 
tions completely  in  this  regard.  There  will  always  be 
need  of  all  the  money  that  can  be  obtained  through  in- 
dividual effort,  by  private  subscription,  to  supplement  the 
public  revenues.  The  charitable  instincts  of  the  well- 
to-do  can,  therefore,  be  just  as  fully  cultivated  and  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  many  of  them  would  be  much  more  ready 
to  contribute  to  the  work,  if  efficiently  and  scientifically 
directed  by  the  city,  than  if  left  to  the  haphazard  devices 
of  most  private  charitable  organizations,  or,  worse  still, 
subjected  to  the  possibility  of  fraud  in  the  solicitation  or 
use  of  the  funds  asked  for. 

The  last  subject  to  be  considered  under  the  head  of 
the  social  welfare  activities  of  the  city  is  the  subject  of 
corrections.  In  its  larger  aspect  this  is,  of  course,  a  ques- 
tion of  general  governmental  import  and  one  that  in  its 
more  serious  phases  must  be  attacked  by  general  state  leg- 
islation. Almost  all  cities,  however,  more  especially  all 
the  larger  cities,  have  a  considerable  criminal  jurisdiction 
of  their  own  and  possess  the  machinery  of  criminal  jus- 
tice. To  the  extent  that  this  is  true,  therefore,  the  prob- 
lem of  the  treatment  of  the  oflender  against  the  law  is  a 
truly  municipal  problem  and  must  be  considered  as  such, 
even  though  the  considerations  that  should  govern  such 
action  are  general  in  their  nature  and  apply  to  the  whole 
field  of  criminology. 

Our  ideas  underlying  the  treatment  of  the  offender 
against  the  laws  still  reflect  the  conceptions  of  the  Middle 
Ages  and  even  of  early  Jewish  times  in  certain  particu- 
lars. The  old  idea  of  criminal  punishment  was  that  of 
revenge.  The  individual  who  offended  against  society 
had  to  be  revenged  by  that  society,  on  the  ancient  prin- 
13 


i82  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

ciple  of  an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth.  In 
the  more  uncivilized  stages  of  our  development,  indeed, 
the  underlying  conception  was  even  more  primitive, 
namely  that  of  individual  revenge.  The  aggrieved  in- 
dividual, or  his  immediate  family,  was  supposed  to  look 
after  the  punishment  of  the  offender,  a  doctrine  that  still 
survives  in  this  country  in  the  feud  districts  of  certain 
states.  Then  gradually  the  state  began  to  assume  the 
obligation,  first,  of  aiding  the  aggrieved  individual,  then, 
of  regarding  the  criminal  oft'ense  as  primarily  an  offense 
against  the  state,  and  only  secondarily  against  the  indi- 
vidual. But  still  the  underlying  idea  was  revenge.  A 
little  later,  the  idea  of  punishment  as  a  means  of  deterring 
others  from  committing  crimes,  was  given  more  emphasis, 
though  in  that  connection  the  most  barbarous  practices 
prevailed.  Since  punishment  was  to  act  as  a  deterrent, 
it  was  thought  that  the  more  severe  the  punishment  the 
greater  the  deterrent  effect.  So  we  find  in  England,  for 
instance,  in  the  late  Middle  Ages  and  even  later,  capital 
punishment  imposed  for  the  slightest  oft'enses.  Not  only 
were  the  punishments  severe  beyond  all  reason,  but  they 
were  administered  publicly,  in  the  hope  that  the  sight  of 
public  executions  and  burnings  would  still  further  act 
as  a  deterrent.  The  offending  individuals  were  consid- 
ered to  have  lost  their  status  as  human  beings  and  were 
subjected  to  the  greatest  cruelties.  Jails  were  purposely 
left  filthy  and  terrible  from  the  same  considerations. 

Today  advanced  thought  has  gotten  far  away  from 
those  conceptions,  although  our  system  of  criminal  ad- 
ministration still  bears  the  earmarks  of  the  earHer  bar- 
barous ideas.  The  scientific  attitude  toward  the  offender 
against  the  laws  today  is  not  that  of  revenge,  but  that 
of  reform.  The  criminal  is  subjected  to  punishment,  not 
in  expiation  of  what  he  has  done,  but  in  the  thought  that 


SOCIAL    WELFARE  183 

such  punishment  will  prevent  his  offending  again,  and 
that  it  will  serve  as  a  warning  to  others/  It  has  long 
since  been  realized,  however,  that  it  is  not  the  severity 
of  the  punishment  which  acts  as  the  deterring  influence, 
nearly  so  much  as  the  certainty  of  the  punishment.  If 
the  apprehension  and  the  conviction  of  wrongdoers  is 
made  certain  by  efficient  police  and  criminal  machinery, 
crimes  will  be  much  fewer  than  if  a  few  only  of  the 
offenders  are  caught  and  are  treated  with  the  most  in- 
human cruelty.  Furthermore,  it  is  generally  conceded 
today  that  to  make  public  spectacles  of  criminal  punish- 
ments has  a  positively  degenerating,  instead  of  regen- 
erating, effect  upon  the  witnesses  and  makes  more  crim- 
inals by  far  than  it  saves. 

The  underlying  idea  of  modern  criminology  is,  there- 
fore, the  reform  of  the  offender,  not  primarily  his  pun- 
ishment. Capital  punishment,  therefore,  has  no  place  in 
the  modern  conception  of  the  relation  of  society  to  the 
criminal.  The  safety  of  society  may  demand  that  the 
unreformed  murderer  be  confined,  but  it  cannot  demand 
his  death,  and  society  harks  back  to  the  days  of  bar- 
barous revenge  when  it  imposes  the  death  penalty.  The 
criminal  being,  therefore,  in  reality  a  ward  of  society,  for 
his  own  improvement  and  reconstitution  as  a  useful  mem- 
ber of  society,  he  must  be  treated  in  such  a  way  that 
his  reform  and  regeneration  will  in  every  way  be  aided. 
He  must,  therefore,  have  sanitary  and  decent  surround- 
ings, his  self-respect  must  be  developed  by  decent  treat- 
ment, and  he  must  be  aided  in  meeting  the  problem  of 
earning  a  living  upon  leaving  the  place  of  confinement. 
The  appalling  number  of  "comebacks"  in  our  penal  in- 
stitutions is  the  best  evidence  of  the  inadequate  wnv  in 
which  we  care  for  the  case  of  the  criminal  after  he  leaves 
the  custody  of  the  public  authorities.     Not  only  is  he 


i84  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

without  money,  but  he  frequently  knows  no  trade,  and 
finds  most  reputable  employments  closed  against  him 
because  of  his  past.  Small  wonder,  then,  that  so  many 
leave  the  penal  institutions  only  to  drop  back  at  once 
into  the  only  possible  means  of  existence,  namely,  crime. 
Our  penal  institutions  should,  therefore,  care  for  the 
physical  welfare  of  the  inmates  so  that  they  will,  if  pos- 
sible, be  better  conditioned  after  they  go  out  than  when 
they  came  in.  The  moral  and  mental  development  of  the 
individual  should  be  cared  for  by  instruction  along  vari- 
ous lines,  and  by  the  separation  of  confirmed  criminals 
from  those  who  have  offended  but  lightly  and  for  the  first 
time.  The  economic  welfare  is  no  less  important,  and 
can  be  furthered  by  aiding  the  criminal  to  learn  a  gain- 
ful occupation  at  which  he  can  work  while  serving  his 
term  and  which  will  put  him  on  a  securer  basis  when 
he  leaves.  A  tolerant  and  charitable  attitude  toward 
ex-convicts  on  the  part  of  the  public,  is  another  important 
factor  in  reform.  If  these  considerations  are  kept  in 
mind,  every  place  of  confinement  can  be  made  a  reforma- 
tory rather  than  a  penal  institution,  and  the  diminution 
of  crime  aided  instead  of  retarded,  as  it  is  by  the  anti- 
quated notions  governing  most  of  our  penal  institutions. 
Specifically  applied  to  the  city,  then,  it  is  clear  that 
the  city  must  provide  a  sanitary  place  of  detention,  must 
give  its  prisoners  proper  food  and  look  to  their  reform. 
For  this  purpose,  municipal  farms  for  prisoners  are  very 
effective,  and  though  the  terms  of  imprisonment  which 
cities  are  ordinarily  empowered  to  impose  are  relatively 
short,  those  terms  can  be  made  profitable  for  the  offen- 
ders instead  of  demoralizing,  as  they  ordinarily  are. 
From  this  point  of  view  the  employment  of  prisoners  on 
public  works,  in  sight  of  every  one,  is  a  most  undesirable 
practice. 


SOCIAL   WELFARE  185 

0 

Not  only  must  all  offenders  be  treated  with  humanity 
and  with  a  view  to  their  reform,  but  special  classes  of 
offenders  must  be  dealt  with  differently  from  others. 
This  is  especially  true  of  juvenile  offenders  who  consti- 
tute a  good  part  of  the  individuals  hauled  up  before  mu- 
nicipal courts.  In  recent  years  the  development  of  special 
juvenile  courts  for  dealing  with  youthful  offenders  as 
needing  warning  and  guidance,  rather  than  as  hardened 
criminals  to  be  severely  punished,  has  been  one  of  the 
hopeful  signs  of  an  awakening  public  conscience  in  these 
matters.  Experience  already  shows  that  youthful  offend- 
ers stand  a  much  better  chance  of  having  their  first  of- 
fense be  also  their  last  if  they  are  put  on  probation  under 
a  friendly  probation  officer,  to  whom  they  must  report  at 
regular  intervals,  than  if  committed  to  jail  like  common 
criminals  and  there  thrown  into  association  with  those 
who  have  behind  them  long  years  of  criminal  record. 
The  many  cases  in  which  home  surroundings  are  directly 
responsible  for  first  offenses  on  the  part  of  boys  and 
girls  can  also  be  dealt  with  in  helpful  and  sensible  man- 
ner, if  the  officers  in  charge  of  such  cases  can  devote 
proper  attention  to  them  and  make  a  specialty  of  that 
phase  of  the  administration  of  criminal  justice.  Of 
course  many  offenders  are  beyond  reform  and  many  are 
little  deserving  of  sympathy,  but  most  of  them  are  dere- 
licts, and  their  salvage  and  reconstitution  are  among  the 
most  important  of  the  various  social  welfare  undertakings 
with  which  a  city  is  charged. 


CHAPTER   \'1I 

CITY    PLANNING  ^ 

City  planning  as  an  agency  of  general  municipal  im- 
provement is  distinctly  a  modern  development.  Indeed, 
it  may  be  said  not  to  have  fully  developed  even  yet,  but 
rather  to  be  just  in  the  process  of  beginning  its  develop- 
ment. Conscious  planning  of  certain  of  the  physical  fea- 
tures of  cities  for  particular  purposes  was  practiced,  in 
individual  cases,  as  far  back  as  Greek  and  Roman  times, 
to  our  certain  knowledge.  This  practice,  like  so  many 
other  advanced  developments,  disappeared,  however,  in 
the  dark  ages  following  the  decline  of  Roman  civilization 
and  practically  did  not  reappear  until  modern  times.  Sir 
Christopher  Wren  proposed  a  city  plan  for  reconstructing 
London,  after  the  big  fire  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
which  was,  however,  not  followed.  Examples  of  compre- 
hensive plans  for  the  location  of  new  cities  were  found 
in  this  country  in  the  plans  of  William  Penn  for  Phila- 
delphia, in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  the  plans  of 
L'Enfant  for  the  city  of  Washington  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  These  were  a  few  of  the  rare  in- 
stances where  it  was  possible  to  adopt  a  plan  for  a  city 


1  This  subject  is  also  treated  at  length  in  Xolen :  City  Planning, 
1916;  Taylor:  Satellite  Cities,  1915:  Bird:  Town  Planning  for 
Small  Communities,  1917.  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  Publishers, 
New  York. — Editor. 

186 


CITY    PLANNING  187 

before  the  city  itself  existed,  and  so  to  direct  the  devel- 
opment along  desired  lines  from  the  start.  The  ordinary 
situation  that  confronts  the  framers  of  a  city  plan  is  the 
making  over  of  an  already  existing  city,  a  very  much 
more  difficult  problem.  Among  the  most  noteworthy  un- 
dertakings of  this  kind  was  the  reconstruction  of  a  large 
part  of  the  streets  of  Paris  under  the  direction  of  Baron 
Haussmann  in  the  time  of  Napoleon  II.  Since  that  time 
the  city  planning  movement  has  spread  throughout  Eu- 
rope, and  particularly  in  the  capitals  has  this  work  been 
carried  on  at  great  expense  and  with  remarkable  thor- 
oughness. Many  of  the  lesser  cities  of  Europe,  however, 
have  also  adopted  and  carried  out  very  extensive  schemes 
of  city  planning,  involving  both  the  reconstruction  of  the 
older  parts  of  the  city  and  the  directing  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  newer  additions.  American  cities  have,  for 
the  most  part,  lagged  behind  in  the  realization  of  the 
importance  of  wise  and  comprehensive  city  planning, 
though  the  subject  is  being  agitated  in  many  communities. 
In  discussing  the  problems  involved  in  modern  city 
planning,  it  is  well  to  keep  in  mind  that  in  almost  every 
instance  the  practical  application  of  a  city  plan  is  not 
to  a  city  that  is  about  to  be  founded,  as  was  the  case 
in  Philadelphia  and  Washington  in  this  country,  but  to 
a  city  that  has  been  in  existence  for  some  time  and  in 
which  the  business  section,  at  least,  is  already  compactly 
built  up.  This  complicates  the  problem  enormously  from 
the  point  of  view  of  finances,  and  would  often  make  a 
plan  wholly  impracticable  that  would  be  admirable  if 
the  city  could  but  start  over  again.  It  will  be  necessary 
to  emphasize  repeatedly,  for  this  and  other  reasons  to 
be  stated  later  on,  that  an  actual  plan  for  any  given  city 
is  a  distinctly  local  problem  which  cannot  be  solved  by 
the  application  of  general  formulae,  but  only  as  the  result 


i88  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

of  a  careful  first-hand  investigation,  on  the  ground,  of  all 
the  local  factors  that  bear  upon  the  situation.  That  fact 
being  kept  continually  in  mind,  it  is  possible,  however, 
to  consider  some  of  the  larger  aspects  of  city  planning 
which  will  have  to  be  taken  into  account  in  any  city  plan- 
ning undertaking,  no  matter  how  much  the  manner  of 
their  application  may  be  affected  by  local  peculiarities. 

The  first  point  to  be  emphasized  in  connection  with  the 
modern  city  plan  is  its  comprehensiveness.  A  modern 
city  plan  is  one  which  takes  into  account  all  of  the  ways 
in  which  it  can  aid  in  improving  the  city.  Even  medieval 
cities,  haphazard  as  was  apparently  the  arrangement  of 
houses  and  of  streets,  were,  of  course,  affected  by  some 
considerations,  such  as  those  of  defense,  for  instance; 
and  no  city  ever  grew  up  without  showing  the  effect  of 
this  or  that  practical  consideration.  But  modern  city 
planning  is  distinguished  by  the  fact  that  it  attempts  to 
take  into  account  all  factors  of  importance,  to  give  them 
their  due  attention  and  to  develop  the  city  accordingly. 
Even  today  much  of  the  so-called  city  planning  is  defec- 
tive in  that  it  is  one-sided  or  incomplete.  The  landscape 
architect,  for  instance,  is  too  likely  to  be  concerned  with 
the  purely  esthetic  side  of  city  planning  possibilities.  The 
engineer,  on  the  other  hand,  is  prone  to  dwell  almost 
exclusively  on  the  traffic  problems  which  city  planning 
can  help  to  solve.  In  truth,  each  of  these  considerations 
is  important,  but  neither  is  sufficient  by  itself,  nor  are  the 
two  together  even  complete.  Perhaps  the  most  charac- 
teristic phase  of  modern  city  planning  is  the  realization 
of  the  possibilities  of  social  improvement  by  means  of 
the  city  plan.  Some  phases  of  this  side  of  city  planning 
have  been  considered  already,  in  connection  with  the  loca- 
tion of  playgrounds,  for  instance,  and  still  others  will 
be  considered  a  little  later  on ;  but  it  is  worth  noting  here 


CITY    PLANNING  189 

that  the  keynote,  perhaps,  of  the  best  city  planning  today 
is  the  emphasis  on  the  social  possibilities  of  the  city  plan, 
giving  due  recognition  all  the  while  to  the  matter  of  con- 
venience of  intercourse  as  well  as  to  purely  esthetic  con- 
siderations. 

The  earliest  consideration  to  be  emphasized  in  con- 
scious city  planning  was  the  treatment  of  the  city  streets. 
Now,  streets  are  in  essence  but  open  spaces  left  unbuilt 
upon  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  persons  and  goods  to  go 
from  one  part  of  the  city  to  another.  They  are,  in  other 
words,  arteries  of  traffic  and  their  consideration  should 
have  that  object  primarily  in  view.  A  careful  traffic  sur- 
vey must,  therefore,  be  one  of  the  preliminaries  of  a 
city  plan.  The  two  most  important  factors  from  that 
point  of  view  are  the  arrangement  and  the  width  of 
streets.  We,  in  America,  have  been  the  heirs  of  a  sys- 
tem of  arranging  city  streets  which  dates  back  to  the 
time  when  Penn  mapped  out  the  streets  of  Philadelphia. 
His  scheme  had  the  great  merit  of  simplicity,  for  it  pro- 
vided a  rectangular  arrangement  in  which  all  streets  cut 
each  other  at  right  angles.  This  plan,  known  as  the  so- 
called  checkerboard  plan,  was  followed  in  almost  all 
American  cities  after  that,  and  is  characteristic.  The 
plan  is  not  without  merits,  though  its  general  adoption 
in  American  cities  was  due  rather  to  unthinking  imita- 
tion than  to  conscious  choice.  In  the  first  place,  the  very 
simplicity  of  the  plan  permits  of  a  system  of  street  and 
house  numbering  that  makes  it  very  easy  to  find  one's 
way  about  any  part  of  the  town.  In  the  second  place,  this 
plan  uses  a  minimum  of  space  for  a  given  width  of  streets 
and  leaves,  therefore,  more  room  for  the  profitable  use 
of  the  land.  In  the  third  place,  by  tending  to  make  city 
blocks  rectangular,  and  the  lots  in  the  blocks  of  the  same 
regular  shape,  it  simplifies  the  surveying  and  description 


190  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

of  property,  and  also  the  application  of  such  systems  of 
scientific  valuation  as  the  Somers  system,  to  be  consid- 
ered in  another  chapter.  On  the  other  hand,  this  plan 
has  the  great  defect  of  not  adequately  meeting  traffic 
needs.  Whenever  traffic  has  to  leave  the  street  on  which 
it  starts,  under  this  plan  it  must  travel  around  the  two 
sides  of  a  triangle  instead  of  along  the  hypothenuse. 
As  only  a  small  part  of  the  city's  traffic  remains  on  the 
street  on  which  it  starts,  there  is  a  serious  loss  of  time 
and  energy  as  compared  with  the  possibility  of  traversing 
the  distance  in  a  straight  line.  From  the  point  of  view 
of  esthetic  considerations,  the  pure  checkerboard  plan 
has  the  very  serious  drawback  of  unrelieved  monotony. 
Landscape  architects  despair  of  streets  unrelieved  by 
curves  or  turns,  and  of  the  lack  of  spaces  not  used  either 
for  traffic  or  for  building.  The  merits  of  the  checker- 
board plan,  to  say  nothing  of  its  universality  in  this 
country,  make  it  desirable  and  even  necessary  as  the 
foundation  plan  for  most  city  streets.  It  must  be  pointed 
out,  however,  that  even  the  advantages  noted  above  in 
favor  of  this  plan  may  be  more  than  offset  by  the  failure 
to  take  into  account  local  topographical  conditions,  such 
as  steep  grades,  for  instance,  which  might  be  avoided 
by  departing  from  the  rigid  plan.  In  fact,  as  has  been 
stated  before,  no  rigid  plan  will  ever  be  satisfactory,  for 
it  does  not  allow  for  local  factors,  but  with  the  checker- 
board plan  as  a  basis,  the  plan  of  inserting  diagonal  streets 
along  the  lines  of  greatest  traffic,  present  and  future,  so 
far  as  that  can  be  foreseen,  largely  eliminates  the  chief 
defect  of  the  older  type.  Not  only  will  the  traffic  dis- 
tance be  shortened,  but  the  monotony  of  arrangement 
will  be  destroyed  and  the  triangular  spaces  resulting  from 
the  intersection  of  streets  at  acute  angles,  which  are 
not  adapted  for  building  purposes,  can  be  advantageously 


CITY    PLANNING  191 

used  for  ornamentation  with  flower  beds,  fountains,  and 
statuary.  In  some  cases,  where  traffic  conditions  demand 
it,  such  diagonal  streets  can  be  made  to  radiate  out  from 
one  or  more  centers  with  admirable  architectural  effect. 

In  addition  to  the  straight  thoroughfares,  rectangular 
and  diagonal,  which,  of  course,  are  best  adapted  for  traf- 
fic, circular  streets  are  used  with  good  effect.  This  fea- 
ture of  street  arrangement  was  developed  in  the  European 
cities  where  the  old  circular  fortifications  and  walls  of- 
fered admirable  opportunities  for  converting  these  unbuilt 
and  no  longer  useful  spaces  into  ring  boulevards.  Their 
practicability  is,  of  course,  greatly  lessened  where  the 
previous  conditions  mentioned  did  not  exist,  but  their 
esthetic  possibilities  have  led  them  to  be  introduced  into 
some  of  the  more  pretentious  city  plans  of  American 
cities.  The  attempt  to  depart  from  the  conventional  street 
arrangements  has  sometimes  resulted  in  unjustifiable  ex- 
tremes. Crooked  and  winding  streets  may  perhaps  be 
made  more  beautiful,  but  they  are  not  economical  or  con- 
venient, and  in  these  days  of  swift-moving  vehicles  easily 
become  positively  dangerous.  If  the  meanderings  of  a 
thoroughfare  follow  the  natural  windings  of  a  stream 
or  other  topographical  feature,  it  may  be  desirable  to 
preserve  the  artistic  natural  features  presented,  or  if  a 
steep  hill  justifies  a  winding  road  as  a  means  of  over- 
coming the  grade,  a  good  reason  for  a  crooked  street  may 
exist.  Otherwise,  it  is  little  short  of  foolish  to  introduce 
street  features  which,  while  existing  in  European  cities 
from  earlier  times,  are  there  considered  an  unfortunate 
heirloom,  and  are  being  eradicated  in  the  interests  of 
traffic  facilities. 

One  important  consideration  in  the  planning  of  the 
network  of  streets  is  the  size  of  the  city  block,  in 
other    words,    the    distance    between    streets.      On    the 


192  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

one    hand,    traffic    considerations    favor    a    short   block 
from   the   point   of   view   of  accessibiHty,    and,   on  the 
other   hand,   a  long  block   from  the  point   of   view  of 
minimizing  traffic  obstructions  at  cross   streets.     From 
the  point   of   view   of   providing  a  maximum   of   light 
and  air  and  of  safety  against  fire,  numerous  streets  with 
small  blocks  are  advantageous.     But  from  the  point  of 
view  of  an  economical  use  of  the  land,  few  streets  are 
better.     In  the  downtown  sections,  where  traffic  consid- 
erations are  the  most  important,  streets  should  be  close 
together  in  the  direction  of  the  main  traffic  movement 
and  farther  apart  in  the  direction  crossing  this.    An  ex- 
ample of  the  worst  kind  of  street  arrangement,  from  this 
point  of  view,  is  seen  in  New  York  City,  where  the  north 
and  south  avenues  are  far  apart,  though  carrying  a  tre- 
mendous traffic,   while  the  east  and   west  intersections 
are  very  close  together.     In  the  business  sections,  where 
almost  all  of  the  lot  can  be  used  to  advantage,  the  dis- 
tance between  streets  or  between  the  street  and  alley,  that 
is,  the  depth  of  the  lot,  is  not  so  important.     But  in  the 
residence  sections  a  deep  lot  may  be  undesirable,  as  in- 
volving an  uneconomical  use  of  the  land  in  the  case  of 
residences  or  of  encouraging  tenements  on  the  rear  of 
lots,  which  are  among  the  worst  offenders  against  decency 
in  housing.    Other  factors,  therefore,  than  the  mere  need 
of  streets  at  certain  intervals  as  arteries  of  traffic  enter 
into  consideration. 

Of  almost  equal  importance  with  the  matter  of  ar- 
rangement of  the  streets,  that  is,  placing  them  at  proper 
intervals  and  running  in  the  proper  directions,  is  the  ques- 
tion of  the  width.  One  of  the  most  widespread  delusions 
with  regard  to  city  streets  is,  perhaps,  the  general  idea 
that  wide  streets  are  the  best  and  that,  therefore,  the  wider 
the  streets  the  better  they  are.     Now,  of  course,  wide 


CITY   PLANNING  193 

streets  have  some  obvious  advantages  which  make  them 
appeal  to  the  average  city  dweller.  They  afford  oppor- 
tunities for  plenty  of  light  and  air.  They  relieve  some 
of  the  feeling  of  crampedness  that  comes  from  the  con- 
gestion of  city  life.  They  look  imposing,  and  offer  oppor- 
tunities for  beautification  and  parking.  These  advantages 
may,  without  doubt,  be  conceded.  At  the  same  time,  there 
are  disadvantages  involved  in  needlessly  wide  streets 
which  more  than  offset  the  advantages.  Wide  streets 
mean,  firstly,  the  use  of  valuable  land  in  an  uneconomical 
way.  A  street  that  is  too  wide  is  not  used  completely, 
whereas  that  excess  land  could  be  employed  for  profitable 
uses.  In  the  second  place,  wide  streets  mean  large  paving 
expense  and  big  repair  and  upkeep  items.  Whether  these 
are  borne  by  the  abutting  property  owners  or  are  paid  for 
out  of  the  general  revenues,  it  is  an  expenditure  of  money 
borne  by  the  public.  In  the  third  place,  streets  that  are 
extremely  wide,  compared  with  the  height  of  buildings, 
are  actually  neither  imposing  nor  beautiful,  but  quite  the 
opposite.  These  defects  of  over-wide  streets  more  than 
counterbalance  the  supposed  advantages. 

Now,  what  should  be  the  test  of  the  proper  width  of 
a  street  ?  Obviously,  the  test  here,  as  in  the  other  cases, 
should  be  that  of  the  fitness  of  the  street  for  the  purpose 
it  is  meant  to  serve.  If  the  street  is  primarily  an  artery 
of  traffic,  its  width  should  be  determined  primarily  by  the 
needs  of  traffic.  As  the  traffic  needs  of  different  streets 
are  different,  there  is  manifestly  no  single  standard  that 
should  or  could  be  applied  to  all.  The  width  of  each 
street  will,  therefore,  be  determined  properly  only  after 
an  investigation  of  the  traffic  conditions  on  that  street. 
This  involves  first  an  examination  of  the  traffic  that  ac- 
tually passes  along  a  street  that  it  is  proposed  to  alter  in 
accordance  with  traffic  conditions,  and  also  a  considera- 


194  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

tion  of  the  probable  future  traffic  developments  along 
that  street.  In  other  words,  there  must  be  something  of 
prophecy  in  all  city  planning ;  in  fact,  that  is  involved  in 
the  idea  of  a  plan,  something  prepared  for  the  future. 
But  this  prophecy,  though,  of  course,  open  to  error,  and 
therefore  necessarily  open  to  revision,  must  be  based  on 
careful  investigation  of  all  factors  involved  and  upon 
the  use  of  sound  judgment,  not  merely  a  blind  guess  as 
to  what  will  happen.  A  street  may  very  properly  be  made 
too  wide  for  the  traffic  that  is  passing  along  it  at  a  given 
time,  in  order  to  accommodate  the  future  increase  that 
seems  probable.  A  street  may  even  consciously  be  made 
narrower  than  convenience  of  traffic  at  the  time  might 
justify,  if  it  is  known  that  some  factor,  such  as  the 
shifting  of  a  railway  terminal  or  other  traffic  center, 
will  soon  result  in  the  discontinuance  of  traffic  on  that 
street. 

Since  streets  are  used  by  vehicles,  and  the  size  of  vehi- 
cles of  a  given  character  is  fairly  uniform,  the  determina- 
tion of  the  actual  width  of  a  given  street  should  depend 
on  the  number  of  streams  of  vehicles  of  that  size  that 
would  be  likely  to  use  that  street.  The  width  of  the  street 
would,  therefore,  be  measured,  not  in  round  numbers  of 
five  or  ten  feet,  as  is  commonly  done,  but  in  multiples 
of  the  distances  that  are  needed  for  vehicles  to  pass  each 
other  on  the  streets.  This  determination  should  take  into 
account  all  the  usual  instruments  of  traffic,  business  and 
pleasure  vehicles,  as  well  as  street  cars  where  these  are 
used.  If,  then,  the  width  of  a  street  is  fixed  with  regard 
to  the  regular  or  normal  traffic  conditions,  it  is  obvious 
that  excessively  wide  vehicles,  that  is,  those  occupying 
more  than  the  normal  clearance  space  allowed,  will  cause 
an  undue  congestion  and  interfere  with  the  use  of  the 
street  as  planned.     It  is  entirely  justifiable,   therefore, 


CITY    PLANNING  195 

having  fixed  the  street  at  the  proper  width  for  all  ordi- 
nary traffic  purposes,  to  forbid  the  use  of  the  street  by 
such  unduly  large  conveyances  as,  for  instance,  the 
large  sight-seeing  cars  that  are  not  uncommon  in  the 
larger  cities.  To  illustrate  again  the  point  that  intelli- 
gent city  planning  must  take  many  other  considerations 
into  account  besides  mere  beauty,  it  may  be  pointed  out 
that  the  question  of  the  necessary  width  of  a  street  will 
be  affected  by  the  policy  which  the  city  intends  to  pursue 
with  regard  to  the  parking  of  automobiles  or  other  vehi- 
cles along  the  curb.  If  the  city  is  to  permit  the  street 
to  be  continuously  lined  on  either  side  with  standing  vehi- 
cles, the  street  will  need  to  be  wider  than  if  the  vehicles 
are  permitted  to  drive  up  to  the  curb  and  remain  there 
only  long  enough  to  discharge  and  take  on  their  occu- 
pants. In  other  words,  a  street  laid  out  with  reference  to 
one  policy,  and  wide  enough  under  those  conditions,  will 
become  congested  if  the  opposite  policy  is  pursued.  The 
adoption  of  the  city  plan  at  that  point,  therefore,  involves 
a  declaration  of  policy  with  regard  to  a  question  of  traffic 
regulation. 

Though  the  determination  of  the  location  of  the  street 
and  the  fixing  of  its  width  are  the  most  significant  fea- 
tures of  street  planning,  because  they  are  more  or  less 
permanent  decisions,  subject  to  change  only  at  consider- 
able expense,  there  are  still  other  phases  of  the  street 
problem  which  are  in  a  real  sense  a  part  of  the  city  plan 
with  regard  to  streets.  These  include  the  paving  and 
lighting  of  the  streets.  If  the  location  and  width  of  a 
street  are  to  be  determined  primarily  with  regard  to  traf- 
fic considerations,  so  are  the  paving  and  the  lighting.  If 
the  width  and  arrangement  of  the  streets  of  a  city  are 
comparable  to  the  floor  plans  of  a  house,  the  paving  and 
lighting  arrangements  of  those  streets  are  the  detailed 


196  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

plans  and  interior  finishing  of  the  house,  an  integral  part 
of  the  architect's  plan. 

The  question  is  often  asked  by  municipal  officials: 
"What  is  the  best  kind  of  street  paving?"  To  this  it  must 
be  answered,  as  in  the  case  of  the  similar  question  with 
regard  to  the  best  width  of  streets,  that  there  is  no  best 
pavement  for  all  streets.  What  is  an  excellent  pave- 
ment for  certain  streets  is  wholly  useless  for  certain 
other  streets.  Even  climatic  variations  must  be  taken  into 
account,  to  say  nothing  of  cost,  which  varies  for  different 
localities.  Furthermore,  even  for  a  particular  street  the 
question  cannot  be  answered  absolutely.  There  are  a  num- 
ber of  different  factors  to  be  taken  into  consideration, 
such  as  cost,  including  all  such  factors  as  initial  cost,  cost 
of  upkeep,  and  the  life  of  the  pavement;  cleanliness; 
safety  for  traffic ;  noiselessness,  etc.  The  relative  weight 
of  these  different  factors  will  be  differently  judged  by 
different  persons,  hence  no  absolute  statement  can  be  laid 
down  even  for  a  particular  street.  Some  general  consid- 
erations, however,  enter  into  all  discussions  of  the  paving 
problem,  and  may  therefore  be  briefly  mentioned  here. 

There  are  five  general  kinds  of  street  paving  now  in 
common  use.  These  are  wood  blocks,  brick,  granite  block, 
macadam  and  the  various  kinds  of  sheet  pavement,  in- 
cluding concrete  pavement  and  a  variety  of  asphalt  pave- 
ments. Each  of  these  classes  includes  a  number  of  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  pavement  which  present  some  considerable 
variations  as  compared  with  one  another,  but  the  follow- 
ing general  characteristics  are  fairly  descriptive.  Wood 
blocks,  now  commonly  treated  with  creosote,  have  the 
great  advantage  of  noiselessness.  They  are  also  easily  re- 
placed when  worn,  making  repair  simple.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  are  not  very  durable,  are  likely  to  buckle  when 
swelled  with  moisture,  and  do  not  present  a  very  good 


CITY    PLANNING  197 

surface  for  keeping  clean.  Brick  is  more  durable  and, 
like  all  piece  pavement,  as  contrasted  with  sheet  pave- 
ment, is  easily  kept  in  repair.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
noisy  and  slippery.  Granite  blocks  are  the  most  durable, 
but  are  very  noisy  and  do  not  usually  present  a  good 
cleaning  surface.  Macadam  is  the  least  durable,  not 
easily  kept  in  repair,  and  not  easily  cleaned.  It  is,  how- 
ever, noiseless.  The  various  kinds  of  sheet  paving  differ 
so  largely  among  themselves  that  it  is  difficult  to  speak 
of  them  as  a  class.  Generally  speaking,  they  are  not  very 
durable  and  are  difficult  to  keep  in  repair.  They  are  also 
slippery  when  wet.  On  the  other  hand,  they  are  easily 
kept  clean  and  are  relatively  noiseless.  As  regards  the 
item  of  cost,  that  is,  cost  of  construction,  there  are,  of 
course,  the  greatest  variations  due  to  the  difference  in 
cost  of  materials.  Where  brick  is  close  at  hand,  brick 
pavements  are  relatively  cheap.  Where  it  has  to  be 
shipped  a  long  distance  the  freight  charges  become  an 
important  item  and  may  make  it  more  expensive  than 
wood  or  granite.  The  same  is  true  of  all  the  other  pave- 
ments. Generally  speaking,  the  sheet  pavements  are  less 
expensive  in  construction  than  the  piece  pavements,  but 
that  is  offset  by  the  reversed  order  in  expense  of  repair 
and  in  the  life  of  the  pavement.  The  true  cost,  therefore, 
that  is,  cost  of  construction  plus  cost  of  upkeep  and  re- 
placement, is  not  so  very  different  for  the  kinds  of  pave- 
ments considered.  It  is  necessary  to  state  that  the  cobble- 
stone pavement,  of  which  there  is  still  a  considerable 
amount  in  existence,  has  been  generally  discarded  as  unfit 
to  meet  modern  traffic  conditions. 

One  important  consideration  with  regard  to  the  choice 

of  pavements  is  the  changing  character  of  street  traffic 

from    horse-drawn    vehicles    to    motor    vehicles.      This 

change,  which  is  rapidly  resulting  in  the  almost  entire  dis- 

t4 


198  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

placement  of  the  horse,  affects  almost  every  aspect  of 
the  paving  problem.  When  the  streets  were  largely  used 
by  horses,  the  question  of  noiselessness  was  very  im- 
portant, for  the  noise  of  horses'  hoofs  and  of  the  iron- 
tired  vehicles  which  they  drew  for  commercial  traffic  was 
a  serious  item.  With  the  advent  of  the  motor-drawn 
vehicles  and  their  rubber-tired  wheels,  the  noise  question 
sank  into  insignificance.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  the 
matter  of  durability.  Just  prior  to  the  introduction  of 
automobiles,  for  instance,  the  ideal  pavement  for  pleasure 
driving  was  the  macadamized  road.  This  pavement 
would  stand  up  well  under  the  wear  of  horses'  hoofs  and 
horse-drawn  vehicles,  but  the  terrific  traction  of  the  pro- 
pelling wheels  of  the  motor  car  demolished  the  macadam 
road  in  a  very  short  time  by  pulling  out  the  crushed  stone 
and  forming  deep  ruts,  and  a  new  kind  of  pavement  was 
required.  So,  also,  with  regard  to  slipperiness  and  clean- 
liness. When  heavy  traffic  was  horse-drawn,  the  neces- 
sity of  providing  a  foothold  in  the  pavement  for  horses, 
as  is  ofifered  in  the  case  of  granite  blocks,  introduced 
interstices  which  were  difficult  to  keep  clean  of  the  dirt 
deposited  by  the  horses.  Motor  trucks,  on  the  contrary, 
need  a  smooth  surface  pavement  and  make  no  dirt.  In 
the  same  way,  there  was  an  objection  to  wood  and  asphalt 
pavements  in  streets  where  horses  were  in  the  habit  of 
standing,  because  the  excreta  tended  to  make  these 
pavements  rot.  Paving  problems  are,  therefore,  different 
for  streets  that  carry  horse-drawn  vehicles  and  those  that 
carry  motor  vehicles.  The  matter  is  enormously  compli- 
cated when  both  kinds  of  traffic  must  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration. The  conclusion  that  motor  traffic,  both  for 
business  and  for  pleasure,  will  eventually  displace  horse- 
drawn  vehicles  entirely  seems  so  clear  that  a  sensible  pav- 
ing policy  for  a  city  would  devote  its  attention  to  the 


CITY    PLANNING  199 

needs  of  motor  traffic  and  ignore  tlic  needs  of  horse- 
drawn  traffic  where  these  conflict  with  the  former.  In- 
deed, in  view  of  the  sanitary  advantages,  merely,  of  get- 
ting rid  of  horse  dirt  in  the  streets  of  the  city,  it  would 
seem  a  wise  policy  to  exclude  horses  entirely  from  the 
streets  of  the  city.  That  has,  in  fact,  been  done  with 
regard  to  the  downtown  section  of  the  city  of  Berlin. 

One  simple  fact  of  street  engineering  which  has  been 
more  and  more  generally  recognized  is  the  importance  of 
the  base.  Brick,  wood  or  stone  block  laid  on  an  im- 
perfect base  will  not  be  satisfactory  for  any  purpose. 
Neither  will  any  kind  of  sheet  paving.  With  the  proper 
kind  of  a  base  and  filler,  brick  pavement  is  very  satisfac- 
tory. The  same  is  true  of  wood  and  stone  pavements. 
It  seems,  however,  that  for  very  heavy  hauling,  piece 
paving  is  better,  while  for  the  lighter  traffic  sheet  paving 
proves  superior,  though,  as  has  been  said,  the  chief  trou- 
ble with  all  the  pavements  is  that  their  possibilities  have 
so  far  not  been  fully  realized  because  of  general  faulty 
construction. 

Street  paving,  tiiough  recognized  as  a  general  munici- 
pal function,  is  commonly  charged,  in  part  or  in  whole, 
to  the  property  abutting  the  street  that  is  paved.  Repair 
is  more  often  assumed  as  a  part  of  the  general  expenses 
of  the  city.  The  theory  of  charging  the  property  owner 
with  the  cost  of  paving  is  that  the  value  of  his  property 
is  increased  by  at  least  the  amount  of  the  cost  of  paving, 
and  that  while  the  city  as  a  whole  benefits,  it  is  not  unfair 
to  make  him  contribute  to  the  amount  that  his  property 
is  increased  in  value.  As  a  practical  matter,  street  paving 
in  American  cities  could  not  be  carried  on  extensively  in 
any  other  way,  owing  to  the  financial  limitations  under 
which  they  labor.  Having,  however,  contributed  to  the 
expense  of  paving  the  street,  it  would  seem  that  the  prop- 


200  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

erty  owner  should  not  be  saddled  with  the  cost  of  repair, 
as  the  street  which  occasions  the  necessity  of  repair  is 
used  much  more  by  the  general  public  than  by  him. 
Cities  adopt  different  practices  in  that  regard,  however. 
Sometimes  the  city  pays  a  considerable  part  of  the  cost 
of  paving;  sometimes,  on  the  other  hand,  the  property 
owner  is  charged  even  with  the  costs  of  repair.  The 
whole  question  of  betterment  taxes,  as  these  charges, 
which  are  based  on  the  increased  value  resulting  to  pri- 
vate property  from  public  undertakings  are  called,  is  one 
that  is  intimately  bound  up  with  the  whole  matter  of 
city  planning  as  a  practical  proposition,  and  will  be  taken 
up  briefly  after  certain  other  aspects  of  the  city  plan  have 
been  considered. 

Street  lighting,  as  we  have  said,  is  as  much  a  part  of 
the  street  plan  of  the  city  as  domestic  lighting  is  a  part 
of  the  architect's  plan  of  a  house.  Whether  the  city  itself 
should  own  and  operate  the  lighting  plant,  or  should  buy 
its  lighting  from  a  private  corporation,  is  an  important 
question  that  will  be  considered  later.  It  has  nothing  to 
do,  however,  with  the  question  of  the  general  lighting 
policy  to  be  followed  by  the  city.  Street  lighting  is  a 
necessity  as  a  matter  of  public  safety.  It  is  also  a  means 
of  city  beautification.  Both  of  these  considerations  must 
be  kept  in  mind  in  determining  the  lighting  policy  of  the 
city.  From  the  point  of  view  of  public  safety,  lighting 
does  two  things.  It  facilitates  traffic,  pedestrian  and 
vehicular,  and  diminishes  the  danger  of  personal  injury. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  safeguard  for  the  prevention 
of  crime  and  the  apprehension  of  evildoers.  In  order 
to  safeguard  traffic,  street  lighting  should  be  adequate  to 
make  the  use  of  the  streets  reasonably  safe  for  persons 
and  vehicles.  The  fact  that  all  vehicles  are  required  to 
carry  lights  themselves,  makes  it  possible  to  get  along 


CITY    PLANNING  201 

with  considerably  less  light  on  the  streets  than  if  street 
lighting  were  depended  upon  for  making  vehicles  per- 
fectly distinct  to  each  other  by  such  light.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  safety  of  pedestrians  at  street  crossings,  who 
can  see  the  vehicles  by  their  own  lights.  The  sidewalks 
should  be  lighted  sufficiently  so  that  pedestrians  can  walk 
without  danger  of  colliding  with  each  other  or  with  per- 
manent or  temporary  obstructions  on  the  sidewalks. 
That  amount  of  light  meets  the  traffic  requirements.  It 
follows,  also,  that,  from  the  point  of  view  of  traffic  safety, 
the  greater  the  traffic  the  greater  the  amount  of  light  that 
is  necessary  for  safety.  Consequently,  there  is  much  less 
need  of  light  after  street  traffic  has  practically  ceased  than 
in  the  crowded  hours  of  the  evening.  In  fact,  after  one 
o'clock  at  night  there  is  generally  almost  no  need  of  street 
lighting  for  traffic  purposes,  and  many  cities  extinguish 
their  lights,  or  most  of  them,  at  that  time.  For  the 
same  reason  many  cities  adopt  the  so-called  moonlight 
schedule,  that  is,  they  do  not  light  their  street  lights  on 
moonlight  nights.  These  attempts  at  economy,  though 
laudable  in  purpose,  are  of  doubtful  value.  In  the  first 
place,  particularly  with  regard  to  the  gradual  extinguish- 
ment of  lights  as  traffic  needs  diminish,  they  involve  an 
expense  of  labor  and  supervision  that  partially  diminishes 
the  saving,  and  at  best  effect  but  little  actual  economy 
because  the  overhead  charges  which  continue,  whether 
the  lights  are  used  or  not,  are  so  great.  Furthermore, 
they  neglect  the  needs  of  such  late  night  traffic  as  does 
exist,  and,  worst  of  all,  they  ignore  the  public  safety 
aspects  of  lighting  in  the  other  connection,  which  will  be 
taken  up  directly. 

The  question  of  the  relative  merits  of  gas  and  electric- 
ity as  means  of  street  lighting  is  a  subject  of  controversy 
among  lighting  experts.    The  question  of  relative  cost  is 


202  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

so  largely  affected  by  local  conditions  that  no  general  an- 
swer can  be  made.  Gas  lighting  is  the  older  system, 
and  was  rapidly  being  displaced  by  electric  lighting 
when  improvements  in  the  former  again  brought  it  into 
favor.  Of  more  importance  than  the  particular  medium 
of  lighting  used  is  the  proper  placing  of  the  lights  for 
effectiveness.  A  good  illustration  of  the  kind  of  innova- 
tions which  may  prove  popular  in  spite  of  obvious  im- 
practicability is  the  system  of  tower  lights,  which  came 
into  vogue  some  years  ago  and  were  pointed  to  with  pride 
by  the  cities  possessing  them.  The  foolishness  of  lighting 
the  atmosphere  a  hundred  feet  or  more  above  the  ground, 
though  apparently  obvious,  was  some  time  in  being  recog- 
nized. It  is,  of  course,  the  street  surface  which  is  sought 
to  be  illuminated,  and  lights  that  are  higher  than  is  neces- 
sary for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  serious  glare,  are  spend- 
ing their  energy  in  largest  part  in  a  useless  direction. 
Many  of  the  problems  of  lighting  are  technical  engineer- 
ing problems,  a  proper  solution  of  which  can  be  arrived 
at  only  by  lighting  engineers.  Others  are,  however, 
merely  matters  of  common  sense,  which  when  also  in- 
trusted to  the  sole  decision  of  lighting  experts  are  no 
more  likely  to  be  wisely  decided  than  if  left  to  the  gen- 
eral public.  For  instance,  the  practice  of  creating  a 
Great  White  Way  by  means  of  excessive  lighting  is  a 
recent  fad  from  which  many  a  city,  particularly  among 
the  smaller  ones,  is  suffering  today.  Instead  of  placing 
useless  lights  along  the  main  business  streets,  where  store 
window  lighting  makes  it  possible  to  get  along  with  less 
than  would  ordinarily  be  needed  for  traffic  purposes,  this 
expenditure  could  more  profitably  be  made  in  the  resi- 
dence sections  of  the  city,  which  in  the  White  Way 
cities  are  commonly  neglected. 

It  was  stated  above,  that  traffic  safety  is  not  the  only 


CITY    PLANNING  203 

consideration  of  importance  in  street  lij:^bting  as  a  safety 
measure.  The  reason  why  robberies  and  burglaries  are 
so  much  more  common  at  night  than  in  the  daytime  is 
obviously  because  darkness  makes  it  easier  to  commit 
these  acts  without  danger  of  being  caught.  Part  of  the 
business  of  street  lighting,  therefore,  is  to  diminish  the 
advantage  which  darkness  brings  to  the  criminal  classes. 
In  fact,  this  is  the  really  fundamental  reason  for  street 
lighting,  and  the  one  which, as  has  been  pointed  out  before, 
led  to  its  introduction  in  cities.  A  moment's  considera- 
tion will  serve  to  show  that  the  principles  governing  the 
use  of  lighting  for  this  purpose  are  not  the  same  as  those 
with  regard  to  the  traffic  safety  features.  While  traffic 
needs  require  a  greater  amount  of  light  in  the  down- 
town sections  where  traffic  is  greatest,  and  less  in  the 
residence  sections  where  traffic  is  lighter,  considerations 
of  police  protection  demand  enough  light  in  all  portions 
of  the  city  to  make  it  reasonably  safe  for  persons  on  the 
streets  and  for  the  houses.  No  force  of  police,  no  matter 
how  large,  would  constitute  an  adequate  protection  if 
there  were  no  light,  or  insufficient  light,  on  the  streets 
to  enable  them  to  apprehend  evildoers  with  a  reasonable 
degree  of  certainty.  In  the  same  way,  while  the  traffic 
needs  for  street  lighting  decrease  with  the  diminution  of 
traffic  late  at  night  and  toward  morning,  the  need  of 
lighting  as  a  means  of  protection  against  violence  in- 
creases instead  of  diminishes  with  the  decrease  in  the 
number  of  persons  and  vehicles  on  the  streets.  To  look, 
therefore,  merely  at  the  traffic  value  of  street  lighting  is 
to  ignore  one  of  the  most  important  features,  without 
which  the  police  protection  of  the  city  is  made  enormously 
more  difficult. 

Finally,  street  lighting  can  be  made  a  means  of  city 
beautification.   It  must  be  remembered,  of  course,  that  the 


204  ^  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

chief  function  of  street  lighting  is  utilitarian  not  esthetic, 
and  that  if  a  particular  lighting  device  that  is  consid- 
ered handsome  proves  to  be  wasteful  or  impractical,  it 
should  make  room  for  one  which  is  useful  first  and  hand- 
some second.  This  is  the  more  necessary  because  relative 
usefulness  is  a  matter  that  can  be  determined  with  con- 
siderable accuracy  by  scientific  tests,  while  relative  beauty 
is  always  a  matter  of  considerable  diversity  of  opinion. 
Fortunately,  however,  it  is  entirely  possible  to  combine 
beauty  with  usefulness  in  this  as  in  other  matters, 
whether  or  not  true  beauty  is  always  inseparable  from 
usefulness  as  some  maintain. 

Intimately  connected  with  the  treatment  of  the  streets 
in  the  city  plan  is  the  whole  matter  of  transportation 
facilities,  especially  the  location  of  street  railways. 
Street  railways,  because  of  their  tracks  and  poles  and 
continuous  use  of  the  streets  may,  although  needed  as 
transportation  facilities,  constitute  serious  causes  of  traf- 
fic congestion.  Their  location  should  be  determined  in 
the  light  of  general  traffic  conditions,  therefore,  as  well 
as  of  the  convenience  of  the  passengers  to  be  transported. 
They  are,  of  course,  most  profitable  in  the  thoroughfares 
where  there  is  the  greatest  activity,  and,  therefore,  al- 
ready considerable  congestion.  It  may  be  desirable, 
therefore,  to  locate  the  street  railways  on  adjoining 
streets,  even  though  it  may  prove  financially  less  profit- 
able. In  the  same  way,  the  extensions  of  the  street  rail- 
ways should  not  be  determined,  as  they  commonly  are, 
by  the  influence  of  real  estate  speculators  who  wish  to 
enhance  the  value  of  their  property  and  make  it  more 
salable.  On  the  contrary,  they  should  be  determined  by 
the  large  question  of  policy  as  to  which  is  the  best  direc- 
tion in  which  to  have  the  city  expand.  The  possible  sig- 
nificance of  rapid  and  convenient  transportation  facilities 


CITY    PLANNING  205 

from  suburban  vvorkingmcn's  colonies  to  the  industrial 
center  of  the  city,  from  a  social  point  of  view,  have  al- 
ready been  pointed  out  in  connection  with  the  considera- 
tion of  the  housing  problem. 

Not  only  the  choice  of  streets  for  the  railways,  but  also 
their  location  in  the  streets,  should  be  determined  by  con- 
siderations of  convenience  to  the  public,  not  by  the  in- 
terests of  the  street  railway  alone.  Considerations  of 
beauty  can  also  be  given  prominence  in  this  connection, 
because  the  appearance  of  the  street  can  be  made  or 
marred  by  a  street  railway.  Underground  service  in- 
stead of  poles  increases  both  safety  and  beauty.  Parking 
of  spaces  between  the  tracks,  tastiness  in  the  colors  of  the 
cars,  and  artistic  treatment  of  waiting  rooms  and  plat- 
forms arc  some  of  the  ways  in  which  the  street  railways 
can  be  made  to  enhance  the  beauty  of  the  street  instead 
of  destroying  it. 

The  location  of  street  car  lines  is  generally  determined, 
in  part,  at  least,  by  the  location  of  the  railway  stations, 
steamboat  docks,  and  other  gates  of  entry  into  the  city. 
A  satisfactory  transportation  plan  for  the  city  cannot, 
therefore,  ignore  the  matter  of  the  location  of  these  city 
portals.  Reduced  to  its  simplest  forms,  the  ideal  arrange- 
ment would  be  to  have  all  the  means  of  transportation 
into  the  city  localized  at  one  spot.  This  would  not  only 
effect  an  enormous  saving  in  the  cost  of  transferring  pas- 
sengers and  goods  from  one  station  to  another,  and  so 
diminish  the  useless  traffic  in  the  streets,  but  it  would 
simplify  the  whole  transportation  problem  in  handling  the 
arrivals  into  the  city,  as  the  car  lines  could  be  made 
to  radiate  from  this  union  station  into  all  parts  of  the 
city.  The  location  of  the  terminals  is  therefore  a  mat- 
ter in  which  the  city  is  vitally  interested,  and  in  which  it 
should  have  the  determining  voice.    In  the  artistic  treat- 


2o6  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

ment  of  the  station  buildings  and  of  the  surrounding 
grounds,  a  splendid  opportunity  is  presented  to  make  the 
city  beautiful  at  the  point  where  most  persons  receive 
their  first  impressions.  It  is,  unfortunately,  characteristic 
of  American  cities,  except  in  the  case  of  some  of  the 
largest  and  newest  ones,  to  have  the  railroad  station  not 
only  inconveniently  located  and  poorly  served  with  trans- 
portation facilities  into  the  city,  but  also  to  have  it  a 
hideous  looking  structure  located  in  about  the  dirtiest  and 
most  unattractive  part  of  the  city.  One  of  the  first  things 
that  strikes  an  American,  therefore,  traveling  in  cer- 
tain countries  of  Europe,  is  the  neat  and  handsome  ap- 
pearance of  the  railway  stations  and  their  surroundings. 
An  encouraging  example  of  the  same  principle  applied 
in  this  country  is  the  new  Union  Station  in  the  city  of 
Washington,  which,  it  must  be  admitted,  is  far  ahead 
of  most  other  American  cities  in  many  phases  of  city 
planning. 

A  fundamental  part  of  every  city  plan  today  is  the 
location  of  parks  and  boulevards.  One  of  the  chief  fac- 
tors in  the  location  of  parks  has  naturally  been  the  util- 
ization of  natural  advantages,  such  as  watercourses,  hills, 
etc.  Here  again  no  general  scheme  of  placing  parks 
would  be  serviceable,  because  these  local  factors  should 
be  taken  into  account.  At  the  same  time  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that,  however  valuable  parks  may  be  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  city  beautiful,  they  are  even  more 
important  from  a  social  and  sanitary  point  of  view.  The 
great  social  value  of  playgrounds  for  children,  and  the 
importance  of  their  proper  location  for  that  purpose, 
have  been  pointed  out  in  the  chapter  on  social  welfare 
activities.  The  same  factors  enter  into  the  location  of 
parks.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  cities  to  lay  out  elaborate 
and  extensive  parks  on  their  outskirts  and  to  point  to 


CITY    PLANNING  207 

the  thousands  of  acres  of  park  with  pride.  A  park  that  is 
so  far  from  the  congested  tenements  of  the  city  that  it  is 
necessary  to  use  the  street  cars  to  get  there  may  be  a 
thing  of  beauty,  but  is  not  a  joy  forever  to  those  who 
most  need  the  joy  that  parks  offer.  Infinitely  better, 
though  perhaps  architecturally  less  imposing,  are  ten 
parks,  of  five  hundred  acres  each,  located  in  the  congested 
sections  of  the  city,  than  is  one  grand  park  of  five  thou- 
sand acres.  The  reason  for  this  lies  simply  in  the  fact 
that  to  the  poorest  of  the  working  classes  every  cent  is  so 
indispensable  that  the  ten  cents  required  for  each  person 
to  go  to  and  from  such  a  distant  park  is  simply  an  im- 
possible expenditure,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that  the 
use  of  the  parks  for  an  hour's  recreation  at  night  becomes 
impossible.  The  sanitary  and  recreational  value  of  park 
facilities  to  people  who  are  shut  up  all  day  in  dark,  ill- 
ventilated  workshops  or  factories  cannot  be  overes- 
timated. 

Somewhat  the  same  objections  may  be  urged  against 
the  manner  in  which  parks  are  frequently  laid  out.  As 
the  chief  aim  of  the  park  is  to  afford  opportunities  for 
moving  about  and  for  relaxation,  it  is  a  sad  mistake  to 
build  the  park  up  altogether  out  of  flower-beds  or  lawns 
that  must  be  guarded  with  a  "keep  off"  sign.  Boulevards 
in  the  same  way  should  not  be  constructed  simply  as  pleas- 
ant driveways  for  the  fortunate  element  in  the  commu- 
nity that  is  able  to  use  them  for  pleasure  riding,  but 
should  also  include  features  that  will  make  each  boule- 
vard a  narrow  but  widely  accessible  and  continuous  park. 

A  part  of  every  city  plan  is  the  location  of  public 
buildings.  It  is  perfectly  obvious  that  public  buildings, 
that  is,  those  erected  for  the  service  of  the  public,  should 
be  located  in  acordance  with  the  demands  of  greatest  con- 
venience  in   such  service.     Unfortunately,  this  obvious 


2o8  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

point  of  view  commonly  yields  to  considerations  of  prac- 
tical politics.  The  city  usually  pays  well  for  the  ground 
it  needs  for  buildings,  and  citizens  with  real  estate  to  sell 
can  afford  to  exert  considerable  pressure  in  favor  of  their 
particular  wares.  Furthermore,  land  around  public  im- 
provements increases  in  value  and  contributes  still  fur- 
ther pressure  for  the  location  of  the  improvements  in  a 
particular  place.  As  a  result,  the  location  of  the  buildings 
is  determined  by  the  factors  that  exert  the  greatest  sel- 
fish influence  instead  of  by  considerations  of  public  con- 
venience. This  is  true  not  only  of  the  buildings  which 
the  city  puts  up.  There  is  in  every  city,  except  the  small- 
est, a  federal  building,  sometimes  more  than  one.  The 
location  of  this,  in  the  same  way,  is  determined  by  politi- 
cal considerations  largely.  The  wishes  of  the  city  in 
regard  to  the  location  of  that  building  are  not  only  of 
no  legally  compulsory  significance,  but  they  are  also  very 
likely  to  be  entirely  ignored,  if  the  interest  of  the  influ- 
ential politician  is  opposed  to  those  wishes.  The  same 
situation  exists  wherever  there  are  county  buildings  in 
the  city,  which  is  the  case  in  the  many  hundreds,  of 
county  seats. 

A  really  comprehensive  treatment  of  the  public  building 
feature  of  the  city  plan  is,  therefore,  not  within  the  legal 
power  of  the  city.  The  best  that  can  be  done  is  to  en- 
courage cooperation  on  the  part  of  the  county,  state  and 
federal  officials  in  the  way  of  determining  jointly  on  the 
best  location  of  such  buildings  in  conformity  with  the  best 
interests  of  both  parties.  Such  a  grouping  of  public 
buildings  in  one  place,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions 
of  a  city  plan,  is  commonly  called  a  civic  center.  It  has 
the  great  underlying  merit  of  convenience,  and  also  pos- 
sesses the  greatest  possibilities  of  artistic  and  architec- 
tural accomplishment.     The  planning  of  a  really  beauti- 


CITY    PLANNING  209 

ful  group  of  public  buildings  has  the  further  advantage 
of  tending  to  foster  civic  pride,  an  important  element  in 
civic  improvement  which  is  unfortunately  quite  generally 
lacking,  partly,  no  doubt,  because  of  this  very  want  of 
anything  to  stimulate  it  in  our  public  buildings.  Though 
the  city  may  be  handicapped  in  the  carrying  out  of  a  com- 
prehensive plan  for  all  public  buildings  in  the  city,  it  has 
full  jurisdiction  over  its  own  public  buildings  and  should 
take  advantage  of  that  power. 

Many  of  the  city's  public  buildings  cannot,  of  course,  be 
assembled  in  one  place.  Such  institutions  as  schools  and 
fire  and  police  stations  must  be  scattered  about  the  city 
to  be  useful,  while  waterworks  and  other  public  works 
cannot  ordinarily  be  put  in  the  center  of  the  city  with 
advantage.  In  the  location  of  such  structures  as  these, 
convenience,  the  prime  consideration,  is  also  frequently 
sacrificed  to  political  interests,  while  in  their  artistic 
treatment  they  commonly  leave  much  to  be  desired.  The 
city  can,  by  the  use  of  the  best  architecture,  stimulate  the 
development  of  the  artistic  in  private  buildings.  In  this 
country  every  man  is  permitted  to  follow  his  own  idio- 
svncrasies  in  the  matter  of  architecture,  a  fact  which 
makes  greatly  against  the  possibility  of  artistic  streets. 
Heights  of  buildings  and  building  lines  are  commonly 
regulated,  but  aside  from  that,  any  kind  of  architectural 
monstrosity  is  permitted.  In  certain  European  countries  a 
building  permit  is  not  issued,  even  for  dwelling  houses, 
unless  they  are  in  some  kind  of  harmony  with  the  e.xis- 
ting  style  of  architecture  in  the  block  in  which  they  are 
to  be  located. 

The  comprehensive  city  plan  is  a  means,  as  we  have 
seen,  of  directing  the  growth  of  the  city  along  lines  that 
are  believed  to  be  the  most  advantageous.  Chief  among 
the  devices  that  are  employed  to  this  end  is  the  prac- 


2IO  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

tice  known  as  zoning.  Every  city  is  composed  of  a  num- 
ber of  different  kinds  of  parts,  presenting  quite  distinct 
characteristics,  though  not  geographically  clearly  delim- 
ited. There  is,  for  instance,  the  industrial  section,  where 
the  factories  and  industries  are  located.  There  is  the 
transportation  section  where  the  handling  of  incoming 
and  outgoing  goods  is  managed.  There  is  the  wholesale 
business  section  where  the  warehouses  are  located,  com- 
monly adjoining  the  transportation  terminals.  Then 
there  is  the  retail  business  and  office  section.  The  rest 
of  the  city  is  the  residence  section,  varying  from  the 
tenement  districts,  where  many  families  live  in  one  struc- 
ture, to  the  single  family  homes.  Now,  as  has  been  said, 
though  these  districts  are  distinct  enough  as  far  as  their 
character  is  concerned,  they  are  commonly  more  or  less 
interlocked  and  overlapping,  and  in  but  few  instances 
clearly  defined.  This  failure  to  differentiate  the  portions 
of  the  city  which  have  these  different  characteristics  has 
many  unfortunate  consequences.  One  consequence  has 
already  been  noted  in  connection  with  the  housing  prob- 
lem, in  that  the  advantages  for  the  workers  of  proximity 
to  their  work  tend  to  introduce  tenements  into  the  in- 
dustrial section,  which  is  the  least  fitted  for  human  habi- 
tation. Another  undesirable  result  is  the  loss  in  property 
values  due  to  the  invasion  of  sections  of  the  city  used 
for  one  purpose,  by  structures  used  for  other  purposes. 
A  common  instance  of  this  is  the  destruction  of  residential 
values  by  the  invasion  of  business  establishments  and 
stores,  and  even  by  apartment  buildings,  to  say  nothing 
of  offensive  industrial  establishments.  In  every  city  there 
are  certain  sections  that  are  especially  well  adapted  for 
office  buildings  and  stores,  and  others  that  are  especially 
desirable  for  dwellings.  Zoning  attempts  to  assign  a 
section  of  the  city  to  each  kind  of  activity,  thus  con- 


CITY    PLANNING  211 

centrating  all  industrial  establishments  in  one  place  where 
they  will  be  least  objectionable  to  homes  and  places  of 
business,  assigning  another  portion  of  the  city  to  stores 
and  office  buildings,  and  others  to  the  various  classes  of 
residence  property.  Of  course,  this  feature  of  city  plan- 
ning, like  every  other,  must  not  be  conceived  as  being  a 
rigid  and  arbitrary  attempt  to  run  counter  to  the  natural 
growth  and  development  of  a  city,  for  the  zones  will 
have  to  be  reconstituted  frequently  in  rapidly  growing 
cities,  but  it  is  an  intelligent  effort  to  guide  the  growth 
of  the  city  for  its  best  interests,  much  as  a  child  is  guided 
in  its  development  by  the  process  of  education  with  a 
minimum  of  interference  with  its  natural  proclivities. 

None  of  the  phases  of  city  planning  mentioned  above 
are  mere  dreams  of  what  might  possibly  be  done  in  some 
distant  future.  They  are,  almost  without  exception, 
merely  developments  that  have  already  taken  place  in 
progressive  cities  in  this  country  and  abroad,  though  it 
must  be  admitted  that  American  cities  are,  as  a  rule,  con- 
siderably behind  European  cities  in  this  regard,  so  far  as 
actual  accomplishments  are  concerned.  Schemes  for  city 
planning  are  by  no  means  uncommon  in  American  cities, 
and  the  whole  subject  is  receiving  ever  more  attention 
by  experts  and  by  the  public.  Some  reasons  why  prog- 
ress has  not  been  more  rapid  in  this  country  are  general 
difficulties  experienced  in  all  city  planning  everywhere, 
as,  for  instance,  the  expense.  Other  reasons  are  more 
peculiarly  American,  some  of  which  may  be  briefly  con- 
sidered here. 

In  the  first  place,  though  there  is  something  interest- 
ing and  inspiring  about  seeing  a  blue  print  of  a  great  and 
comprehensive  city  plan,  and  enthusiasm  can  easily  be 
worked  up  over  such  a  project,  there  is  nothing  fascina- 
ting about  the  slow  development  and  execution  of  the 


212  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

plan  when  it  is  once  adopted.  Could  cities  be  born  to- 
day, full  fledged  along  the  lines  of  modern  city  plan- 
ning, the  results  would  be  so  inspiring  as  to  insure  en- 
thusiastic reception.  But  practical  city  planning  under 
the  most  favorable  conditions  today,  especially  in  the 
larger  cities,  must  be  a  matter  of  snail-like  progress.  The 
enthusiasm  engendered  by  contemplating  an  inspiring 
city  plan  begins  to  wane  rapidly  with  the  realization  that 
at  the  rate  of  advance  possible  under  the  most  favorable 
conditions,  the  plan  will  not  be  nearing  completion  until 
long  after  the  contemplator  shall  have  ceased  to  be  in- 
terested in  city  plans.  The  kind  of  enthusiasm  and  imag- 
ination which  can  cling  to  a  vision  in  the  face  of  such 
painfully  tardy  development  is  not  all  too  common  any- 
where, least  of  all,  perhaps,  among  practical  Americans. 
The  consequence  is,  that  when  some  time  after  the  sad 
pace  of  progress  has  been  noted,  a  proposition  arises 
which  is  full  of  promise  of  immediate  beneficial  fulfill- 
ment but  which  destroys  the  far-reaching  plans  embodied 
in  the  blue  prints,  the  economic  principle  of  the  value  of 
present  goods  as  compared  with  future  goods  becomes 
too  strong,  and  the  distant  plan  is  varied  to  meet  the 
present  desires.  In  a  democracy,  where  public  opinion 
must  be  counted  upon  to  support  any  such  far-reaching 
city  plan,  the  chance  of  its  survival  is  of  course  much  less 
under  those  trying  conditions  than  where  officials  serve 
for  a  lifetime  and  the  determination  of  such  policies  is 
in  the  hands  of  a  more  or  less  continuous  governing  class. 
There  are  other  difficulties  inherent  in  the  position 
of  American  cities.  Since  the  all-overshadowing  difficul- 
ty in  the  way  of  comprehensive  city  planning  is  really  the 
enormity  of  the  cost  involved,  if  results  are  to  be  present 
as  well  as  future,  the  question  of  how  to  meet  the  expense 
becomes  immediately  fundamental.    In  this  regard  Amer- 


CITY   PLANNING  213 

ican  cities  are  commonly  tied  hand  and  foot.  Limited, 
as  will  be  seen  later,  by  arbitrary  and  inflexible  limitations 
on  their  borrowing  and  taxing  powers,  American  cities  are 
simply  without  funds  for  carrying  on  large  city  planning 
operations,  which,  of  course,  involve  replanning  of  prop- 
erty that  is  already  built  upon  and  is  correspondingly  valu- 
able. The  only  solution,  therefore,  is  to  impose  the  cost 
not  upon  the  city  as  a  whole,  but  upon  the  property  own- 
ers who  are  benefited  by  the  operations.  The  power  of 
levying  special  assessments  is  so  circumscribed  and  lim- 
ited as  to  be  of  little  value,  being  generally  applicable 
to  a  few  undertakings  only,  such  as  street  paving,  for 
instance.  A  much  more  extensive  power  of  enlisting  the 
aid  of  increased  property  value  is  needed.  This  could 
be  obtained  in  part  by  creating  larger  benefit  districts 
and  assessing  all  property  that  enhances  in  value  as  a 
result  of  tiie  improvements,  not  merely  the  abutting 
property. 

But  more  important  than  this,  even,  is  the  power  of  ex- 
cess condemnation,  which  is  an  enlargement  of  the  power 
of  eminent  domain.  Under  the  ordinary  constitutional 
and  legal  provisions  in  the  United  States,  cities  may  take 
by  condemnation  only  so  much  private  property  as  is  ab- 
solutely necessary  for  the  public  work  contemplated. 
For  instance,  if  a  street  is  to  be  widened,  it  may  mean 
cutting  in  half  the  building  lots  on  one  side  of  the  street. 
This  may  mean  that  the  city  has  to  pay  not  only  for  the 
half  of  the  lot  used  for  the  street,  but  also  practically 
for  the  rest  of  it,  if  it  has  been  made  nearly  valueless 
for  business  purposes  by  the  diminution  in  depth.  And 
yet  the  city  can  acquire  only  so  much  of  the  lot  as  will 
be  used  for  the  proposed  street.  If  now  the  city  were 
enabled  to  purchase  the  whole  of  that  block  at  but  little 
more  than  it  would  have  to  pay  for  a  part,  and  the 
15 


214  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

frontage  of  the  next  street  as  well,  it  could  make  a  park 
of  the  useless  half  block  and  might  sell  the  frontage  it 
had  acquired  at  an  increase  of  price  that  would  help 
largely  toward  paying  for  the  entire  improvement.  This 
device  of  excess  condemnation  is  one  which  has  been 
used  with  great  success  in  European  cities,  and  which, 
indeed,  made  possible  the  enormous  undertakings  in  Paris 
under  Baron  Haussmann,  previously  mentioned.  It  is 
not  only  a  practicable  means  of  securing  the  necessary 
money,  but  it  is  an  equitable  means  of  securing  to  the 
public  the  benefit  of  increased  land  values  resulting  from 
such  improvement.  Both  larger  benefit  assessment  dis- 
tricts and  the  right  of  excess  condemnation  would  do 
much  toward  relieving  the  financial  obstacles  in  the  way 
of  city  planning  in  America. 

Closely  akin  to  the  power  of  excess  condemnation  is 
the  power  of  cities  to  acquire  real  estate  for  more  re- 
mote public  purposes,  even  for  revenue.  In  the  United 
States,  it  is  very  rare  for  a  city  to  own  any  considerable 
amount  of  real  property  that  is  not  used  directly  for  a 
public  purpose.  Indeed,  cities  do  not  ordinarily  have 
the  right  of  acquiring  and  holding  property,  except  for 
use  in  some  such  public  purpose.  European  cities,  on 
the  other  hand,  particularly  German  cities,  frequently 
own  a  majority  of  the  real  property  within  their  limits, 
and  some  own  as  much  as  seventy-five  or  eighty  per  cent, 
including  both  publicly  and  privately  used  property.  As 
a  revenue  policy,  that  is,  as  a  means  of  securing  income 
to  the  city  treasury  or  of  increasing  the  capital  of  the 
city,  this  practice  is  open  to  some  grave  dangers  which 
can  better  be  considered  in  the  discussion  of  the  city's 
finances.  As  a  means  of  carrying  out  comprehensive  city 
planning  schemes,  as  a  measure  for  preventing  specu- 
lation in  real  estate  and  turning  the  unearned  increment 


CITY    PLANNING  215 

from  private  pockets  into  the  public  treasury  where  it 
belongs,  the  practice  is  undoubtedly  most  valuable. 
Housing  schemes  and  zoning  can  be  carried  out  much 
more  thoroughly  and  effectively  if  the  city  has  the  rights 
of  proprietorship  over  property  as  well  as  the  rights  of 
governmental  control.  The  progress  which  German 
cities  have  made  along  the  lines  of  city  zoning  would  not 
have  been  possible  had  the  city  not  had  the  income  and 
the  control  which  came  from  owning  a  large  part  of  the 
property  in  the  city. 

One  more  point  is  worth  noting  in  connection  with 
peculiar  difficulties  to  be  overcome  by  cities  in  America, 
and  that  is  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  eminent  domain. 
It  seems  to  be  a  part  of  accepted  public  opinion  that  it 
is,  in  this  country,  quite  proper  for  the  individual  who  has 
something  the  government  wants  to  charge  the  govern- 
ment just  as  much  as  possible  without  any  regard  to 
actual  or  fair  values.  So  general  does  this  attitude  seem 
to  be  that,  under  a  system  of  assessing  damages  by  juries 
of  laymen,  the  government  is  so  sure  of  being  cheated 
that  it  is  generally  considered  cheaper  to  compromise  a 
condemnation  suit  at  the  seller's  price  than  to  leave  it  to 
the  tender  mercies  of  a  jury.  Not  only  that,  but  in  many 
states  the  law  itself  gives  undue  advantages  to  the  owner 
by  giving  him  the  benefit  of  all  factors  that  tend  to  in- 
crease the  value  of  the  property  at  the  time  of  transfer. 
Yet  nothing  could  be  more  idiotic  than  to  allow  the  owner 
of  a  parcel  of  land,  worth  on  the  market  today  $10,000, 
to  measure  the  condemnation  value  of  that  land  by  the 
market  price  of  similar  adjoining  parcels  after  the  pro- 
posed improvement  has  been  decided  upon  or  is  known 
to  be  in  contemplation.  It  is  indefensible  practices  like 
these  that  make  city  planning  such  a  tremendously  diffi- 
cult thing  in  American  cities  as  compared  to  European 


2i6  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

cities,  where  a  fair  regard  is  had  to  the  rights  and  in- 
terests of  the  general  public,  represented  by  the  govern- 
ment, as  well  as  to  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  special 
public,  represented  by  the  property  owners. 


CHAPTER   VIII 


PUBLIC    WORKS 


An  ever-extending  and  vastly  important  field  of  mu- 
nicipal activity  in  all  cities  today  is  the  construction  and 
operation  of  public  works.  These  are  services  which 
the  city  undertakes  for  its  citizens,  but  which  differ 
from  such  services  as  police  and  health  protection,  edu- 
cation and  the  protection  of  public  morals,  in  that  they 
are  undertakings  which  do  not  in  their  performance 
necessarily  require  the  exercise  of  governmental  power. 
They  include,  in  other  words,  undertakings  which  might 
conceivably  be,  and  in  many  cases  are,  carried  on  by 
private  individuals  or  corporations  instead  of  by  the 
city.  They  are  distinguished  legally  from  the  other 
type  of  municipal  functions  in  being  considered  pro- 
prietary functions  in  contrast  to  the  so-called  govern- 
mental functions.  This  legal  distinction  is  one  of  con- 
siderable importance  in  fixing  the  liability  of  the  city  in 
damages,  for  instance,  caused  by  the  negligence  in  the 
performance  of  the  functions  mentioned.  But  this  dis- 
tinction is  of  little  interest  here,  for  the  main  purpose 
of  the  discussion  in  this  chapter  is  to  point  out  the  most 
imporant  problems  that  arise  and  some  of  the  various 
ways  in  which  they  have  been  or  could  be  solved. 

The    particular    proprietary    undertakings    which    will 

217 


2i8  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

here  be  considered  are  only  those  which  cities  com- 
monly, though  not  invariably,  no  longer  leave  to  private 
undertaking,  but  administer  themselves.  The  question 
as  to  what  additional  undertakings  should  be  undertaken 
by  the  city,  commonly  designated  under  the  head  of  the 
municipal  ownership  problem,  will  be  taken  up  in  the 
next  chapter.  It  is  purposed  here  merely  to  consider 
those  undertakings  about  the  propriety  of  the  municipal 
ownership  and  operation  of  which  there  is  practically  no 
difference  of  opinion  and  but  little  divergence  in  prac- 
tice. 

First  among  these  general  municipal  undertakings 
stands  the  provision  of  the  water  supply.  The  intimate 
connection  between  the  purity  of  the  city  water  supply 
and  the  health  of  the  citizens  has  already  been  empha- 
sized in  another  place.  The  almost  universal  necessity 
of  treating  the  water  supply  in  order  to  make  it  fit  for 
drinking  has  also  been  pointed  out.  The  question  that 
now  arises  is,  how  the  water  is  to  be  treated  in  order  to 
insure  its  purity.  This  will  have  to  be  answered  dif- 
ferently for  different  cities  according  to  the  character  of 
the  supply,  the  amount  and  kind  of  chemical  impurity, 
the  amount  of  bacteriological  impurity,  the  amount  of 
dirt  of  other  kinds,  etc.  But  certain  processes  are  so 
general  as  to  be  required  in  almost  all  circumstances. 

First  among  these  almost  universal  processes  is  filtra- 
tion. By  filtration  is  meant  the  passing  of  the  water 
through  some  substance  that  will  remove  the  impurities, 
the  universal  medium  used  for  that  purpose  being  sand. 
Sand  filters  are  of  two  distinct  types,  the  slow  sand 
filter  and  the  rapid  sand  filter.  The  slow  sand  filter  is 
simply  an  artificial  tank  of  concrete  or  other  impervious 
material  into  which  is  run  the  water  that  is  to  be 
filtered.     The  sand  that  is  to  do  the  filtering  is  put  into 


PUBLIC    WORKS  219 

the  bottom  of  the  tank  to  a  depth  of  three  or  four  feet, 
placed  on  top  of  crushed  rock  which  protects  the  water 
pipes,  into  which  the  filtered  water  is  to  run  and  which 
rests  on  the  floor  of  the  tank.  The  water  percolates  down 
through  the  sand,  which  catches  not  only  inorganic  mat- 
ter but  also  microscopic  germs  in  the  film  that  forms 
on  the  surface  of  the  sand.  The  sand  must,  of  course, 
be  cleaned  at  regular  intervals,  because  the  rate  of 
passage  of  the  water  decreases  as  the  coating  becomes 
heavier.  The  top  layer  of  sand  is  removed  and  the  sand 
depth  kept  equal  by  the  addition  of  sand  which  has  been 
dried  and  cleaned.  The  purifying  qualities  of  the  ordi- 
nary slow  sand  filter  are  excellent  and  the  rate  of  fil- 
tration is  rapid  enough  to  insure  a  plentiful  supply  with 
a  relatively  small  filtration  space,  an  acre  of  filter  bed 
having  an  ordinary  capacity  of  some  three  million  gal- 
lons per  day,  enough  for  a  city  of  thirty  thousand  in- 
habitants, allowing  a  hundred  gallons  a  day  per  head  of 
population.  On  the  question  of  the  proper  allowance 
of  water  per  capita  of  population  more  will  be  said 
later,  for  it  is  obviously  a  fundamental  consideration  in 
the  administration  of  this  public  service.  It  has  been 
estimated  that  the  slow  sand  filter  furnishes  water  under 
ordinary  conditions  at  an  average  cost  of  thirty  cents  a 
year  for  each  head  of  population,  showing  that  pure 
water  is  relatively  cheap  and  easily  obtained  by  this 
method. 

The  chief  defect  of  the  slow  sand  filter  is  ♦'nat  it  clogs 
up  too  rapidly  if  the  water  to  be  filtered  is  very  muddy 
or  full  of  inorganic  matter.  The  cleaning  of  the  filter, 
which  in  the  case  of  reasonably  clear  water  is  required 
but  once  a  month,  becomes  necessary  at  such  frequent 
intervals  and  takes  so  much  time  that  this  form  of  filte/ 
ceases  to  be  economical.     It  becomes  necessary  in  that 


220  MUNICIPAL   FUXCTIOXS 

case  to  provide  sedimentation  basins  in  which  the  turbid 
water  is  allowed  to  stand.  If  the  basins  are  connected 
in  series  and  water  run  from  the  one  to  the  other,  a 
very  large  part  of  the  suspended  matter  is  thereby  re- 
moved, and  a  considerable  amount  of  bacteriological 
purification  also  takes  place  through  oxidation  and  the 
action  of  coagulation,  which  can  be  promoted  by  the 
use  of  chemicals  without  impairing  the  quality  of  the 
water.  After  sedimentation  has  done  its  work,  the  water 
is  passed  through  the  rapid  sand  filter,  a  scheme  not 
unlike  the  ordinary  slow  sand  filter  except  that  so  fine 
a  grade  of  sand  is  not  used  and  the  water  passes  through 
much  more  rapidly.  The  cleaning  of  the  filter  is  much 
simpler,  too,  because  it  is  possible  in  this  kind  of  filter 
to  force  water  back  through  the  sand  bed  from  below 
and  so  flush  it  out  instead  of  draining  the  filter  tank 
and  scraping  off  the  sand.  The  purification  attained 
by  this  method,  if  properly  managed,  is  sufficient  under 
all  ordinary  conditions  and  the  cost  per  gallon  is  about 
the  same  as  in  the  case  of  the  slow  sand  filter.  The 
capacity  per  acre  is  very  much  greater  in  the  case  of  the 
rapid  sand  filter,  but  the  cost  of  operation  is  also  con- 
siderably higher.  There  is,  therefore,  little  choice  be- 
tween the  two  methods  as  regards  cost.  The  slow  sand 
filter  is  not  adapted,  as  has  been  seen,  to  very  muddy 
water,  and  being  more  expensive  to  install  necessitates 
a  larger  b'-^nd  issue,  sometimes  a  factor  of  great  if  not 
determining  importance  in  the  question  of  providing  a 
pure  --vater  supply.  The  rapid  sand  filtration  would, 
therciore,  seem  to  be  better,  even  though  it  does  not 
in=.ure  quite  so  high  a  degree  of  purification,  not  only 
"vhere  the  murkiness  of  the  water  supply  requires  sedi- 
mentation basins,  but  elsewhere  as  well,  since  the  cost 
of  installation  is  lower,  thus  requiring  less  investment 


PUBLIC   WORKS  221 

of  tnoney,  while  the  higher  cost  of  operation  can  be  met 
out  of  the  operating  revenue. 

The  most  important  consideration  in  the  matter  of  the 
water  supply  being  the  removal  of  pathogenic  or  disease- 
producing  bacteria,  cities  have  in  some  cases  restricted 
themselves  to  meeting  that  problem  without  filtering  the 
water,  by  sterilizing  the  water  with  chemicals.  It  is 
quite  possible  to  destroy  the  bacteria  in  water  by  the 
use  of  chemicals  which  liberate  free  oxygen  to  act  on 
the  organisms,  all  natural  bacterial  destruction  being  in 
essence  oxidation.  This  method  is  very  much  cheaper 
than  any  scheme  of  filtration,  and  in  the  case  of  clear 
water  which  has  only  bacterial  impurities,  and  especially 
if  it  has  them  only  intermittently,  as  after  heavy  rains, 
may  be  recommended.  But  as  it  does  not  remove  any 
other  impurities,  and  most  water  that  contains  pathogenic 
bacteria  contains  vegetable  and  inorganic  matter  as  well, 
it  is  but  a  poor  economy.  Furthermore,  the  danger  of 
carelessness  in  the  treatment  of  water  with  chemicals  is 
greater  than  in  the  case  of  mechanical  filters  and  intro- 
duces, therefore,  a  greater  element  of  risk.  Sterilization 
of  the  water  supply  should  consequently  be  regarded  as 
an  emergency  or  makeshift  measure  only. 

In  addition  to  removing  suspended  matter  and  micro- 
organisms from  the  water  by  filtration  it  may  be  de- 
sirable to  soften  the  water.  Both  for  household  and 
industrial  use  very  hard  water  is  undesirable  and  some- 
times unusable.  The  treatment  of  the  water  with  chem- 
icals to  soften  it  is  not  an  extremely  expensive  under- 
taking and  is  being  done  in  a  number  of  cities.  In  the 
same  way,  water  that  comes  from  storage  reservoirs 
may  be  aflfected  by  vegetable  growths  which  can  be 
counteracted  by  chemical  treatment  also.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  mere  storage  of  water  is  one  method  of  im- 


222  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

proving  it,  even  from  the  bacteriological  standpoint, 
though  the  storage  basins  must  be  protected,  of  course, 
against  external  sources  of  pollution. 

The  securing  of  a  satisfactory  water  supply  from  the 
point  of  view  of  quality  is  perhaps  a  less  difficult  prob- 
lem than  the  matter  of  quantity,  for,  as  has  been  seen, 
the  water  from  almost  any  source  can  be  so  treated  as 
to  make  a  satisfactory  supply,  though  the  expense  may, 
under  certain  conditions,  be  very  great.  But  with  an 
average  consumption  of  a  hundred  gallons  per  day  for 
each  head  of  the  population  it  can  readily  be  seen  that, 
except  in  the  case  of  cities  fortunate  enough  to  be  located 
on  large  lakes  or  streams,  the  really  difficult  question 
of  water  supply  is  largely  one  of  quantity  for  the  larger 
cities.  Cities  have  had  to  go  to  enormous  expense  in 
getting  a  sufficient  water  supply,  one  of  the  most  stu- 
pendous of  modern  undertakings  being  the  new  aqueduct 
from  the  Catskill  Mountains  to  New  York  City  to  carry 
five  million  gallons  of  water  daily  for  a  hundred  miles, 
the  cost  of  construction  being  nearly  two  hundred  million 
dollars.  Many  European  cities  have  had  to  bring  water 
from  a  considerable  distance,  while  the  new  Los  Angeles 
aqueduct  carries  the  water  from  the  Sierra  Nevada 
Mountains,  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  through  moun- 
tains and  desert. 

From  these  few  illustrations  it  can  readily  be  seen 
that  the  problem  of  the  water  supply  is  by  no  means 
local  in  the  sense  that  every  city  can  be  left  to  look  out 
for  itself  without  reference  to  other  cities.  It  frequently 
happens  that  a  city  is  wholly  unable  to  get  a  water 
supply  within  its  own  boundaries  or  jurisdiction,  and  it 
may  require  state,  interstate,  or  even  federal  action,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  Los  Angeles  supply,  mentioned  above, 
to  enable  the  city  to  acquire  a  suitable  source  of  water. 


PUBLIC   WORKS  223 

The  state  must  therefore  make  some  provision  whereby 
such  situations  can  be  met.  Where  a  number  of  cities 
are  close  together  it  may  be  desirable  to  have  a  con- 
venient supply  used  in  common  instead  of  being  acquired 
by  one  city  alone  and  used  to  the  exclusion  of  the  others. 
For  that  purpose  water  districts  have  been  created  com- 
prising a  number  of  municipalities  and  administering 
the  common  source  for  the  benefit  of  all.  It  has  already 
been  pointed  out  how  state  action  is  necessary  to  pre- 
vent one  city  from  unnecessarily  polluting  a  stream  or 
body  of  water  that  could  conveniently  be  used  by  an- 
other city.  This  is  simply  another  illustration  of  the 
fact  that  a  given  function,  which  may  at  first  glance 
seem  to  be  a  matter  of  purely  local  concern,  really  de- 
mands a  considerable  measure  of  state  control,  not  in 
derogation  of  any  supposed  rights  of  home  rule,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  for  the  greater  security  and  freedom  of 
many  cities  against  the  detrimental  consequences  of  the 
acts  of  one. 

The  problem  of  the  adequacy  of  the  supply  is  closely 
connected  with,  and  in  fact  in  large  measure  determined 
by,  the  amount  of  water  consumed  per  capita  of  popula- 
tion. This  can  easily  be  understood  when  it  is  remem- 
bered that  while  in  American  cities  it  is  customary  to 
figure  an  allowance  of  water  amounting  to  one  hundred 
gallons  per  capita  per  day  in  deciding  how  much  water 
is  needed  for  a  city,  in  European  cities  it  is,  on  the 
average,  considerably  less  than  half  that  much.  In  other 
words,  an  American  city  of  a  million  population  would 
ordinarily  have  to  install  a  water  supply  system  with  a 
capacity  of  a  hundred  million  gallons  a  day,  while  a 
European  city  of  the  same  size  could  get  along  with 
one  of  forty  or  fifty  million  daily  capacity.  There  are, 
it  is  true,  very  great  variations  among  cities  both  in  this 


224  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

country  and  abroad  in  tlie  daily  per  capita  consumption 
figures,  but  the  above  ratio  is  a  pretty  fair  average.  It 
is  interesting  to  inquire  why  this  great  discrepancy  ex- 
ists, for  it  may  obviously  be  due  to  one  of  two  causes. 
Either  European  cities  do  not  have  as  large  a  daily  per 
capita  consumption  as  would  be  desirable  from  the  point 
of  view  of  sanitation  and  cleanliness,  or  American  cities 
are  guilty  of  a  serious  waste  of  a  valuable  and,  in  some 
cases,  a  scarce  commodity. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  while  various  factors,  such  as 
the  greater  number  of  sanitary  conveniences  using  water 
in  this  country  as  compared  with  European  cities,  account 
for  some  of  the  difference  noted,  almost  one-fourth  of 
the  daily  consumption  of  water  in  American  cities  is 
wasted,  that  is,  allowed  to  flow  away  without  accom- 
plishing any  kind  of  useful  purpose.  This  waste  is 
largely  due  to  negligence  on  the  part  of  the  city  itself 
in  the  use  of  water  for  public  purposes,  in  the  improper 
care  of  the  distributing  system,  and  in  permitting  de- 
fective plumbing  in  the  houses,  but  it  is  also,  in  large 
part,  due  to  the  negligence  of  the  private  users  in  letting 
water  run  from  the  faucets.  The  waste  on  the  part  of 
the  city  itself  can,  of  course,  be  prevented  by  efficient 
administration  of  the  water  distributing  system.  The 
most  effective  means  of  reducing  the  waste  by  private 
users  is  through  the  use  of  meters  which  record  the 
amount  of  water  used  by  each  consumer.  Cities  have 
the  universal  experience  that  the  introduction  of  water 
meters  makes  a  marked  reduction  in  the  amount  of  water 
used  and  need  not  be  spread  over  a  considerable  period 
in  order  to  cover  the  cost  of  meter  installation  and 
reading. 

That  waste  in  such  an  important  and  increasingly  ex- 
pensive commodity  as  water  should  not  be  permitted  if 


PUBLIC    WORKS  225 

it  can  be  prevented,  is  a  proposition  to  which  there  would 
be  no  dissent.  That  metering  the  water  supply  for  each 
consumer  would  reduce  this  waste  is  equally  evident. 
And  yet  there  is  considerable  opposition  to  the  intro- 
duction of  the  meter  system  in  nearly  all  cities  where 
its  introduction  is  contemplated.  The  reason  for  this 
opposition  rests  on  the  fact  that  it  is  believed  impolitic 
to  restrict  the  large  use  of  water,  the  most  important 
single  factor  in  sanitation.  This  attitude  seems  to  rest 
on  the  implied  assumption  that  the  installation  of  water 
meters  will  mean  not  only  diminution  in  wastefulness 
but  also  in  the  proper  use  of  water,  which  would,  of 
course,  be  unfortunate.  No  such  consequence  need,  how- 
ever." follow.  If  forty  gallons  per  capita  per  day  is 
regarded  as  an  ample  allowance  for  a  liberal  but  legiti- 
mate domestic  use,  it  would  be  perfectly  feasible  to  make 
the  minimum  charge  for  that  amount  and  everything 
under  it,  thus  insuring  to  every  user  the  greatest  amount 
of  water  required  at  the  cheapest  rate.  Over  and  above 
that  liberal  allowance,  however,  the  charges  for  water 
could  be  made  high,  and  increasing  on  a  sliding  scale, 
since  for  domestic  purposes  the  surplus  consumption 
would  practically  register  the  amount  of  waste.  In  this 
way  there  would  be  no  tendency  on  the  part  of  the 
poorer  users  to  stint  tliemselves  below  a  reasonably  lib- 
eral amount  in  order  to  save  money,  and  yet  the  extrava- 
gant use  would  be  penalized. 

This  brings  up  the  important  question  of  water  rates 
in  general.  Water  being  such  a  fundamental  and  uni- 
versal necessity,  the  question  may  well  be  asked :  why 
should  the  city  charge  for  the  water  furnished,  any 
more  than  it  charges  for  the  use  of  the  streets  or  for 
police  or  fire  protection?  Why  does  the  cost  of  the 
public  water  supply  not  come  out  of  the  general  revenues 


226  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

as  do  the  expenses  of  the  poHce  and  health  departments? 
It  is  almost  the  universal  rule  that  cities  do  regard  this 
as  a  commodity  which  they  sell  to  the  consumers,  and 
not  a  public  service  which  they  furnish  for  all  citizens 
without  special  charge.  Probably  the  real  explanation 
of  this  universal  practice  lies  in  the  fact  that  water 
supply  systems  were  quite  commonly  constructed  by  pri- 
vate companies  and  run  for  commercial  gain,  by  charging 
as  for  any  other  commodity,  and  that  when  the  cities 
took  over  these  plants  or  themselves  built  waterworks 
they  naturally  adopted  the  same  plan.  Furthermore, 
the  use  of  the  water  service  is  one  which  varies  with 
individuals  according  to  their  own  desires  and  acts, 
whereas  the  uses  of  the  police  and  fire  departments, 
for  instance,  made  by  individuals  are  not  subject  to  their 
control.  Such  variations  in  the  use  of  the  water  supply 
are  capable  of  being  noted  and  are  in  fact  taken  more 
or  less  accurately  into  account  in  every  city. 

Although  it  may  be  entirely  fair  and  desirable  to  have 
the  users  of  water  contribute  to  the  cost  of  supplying 
the  water,  at  least  approximately  in  proportion  to  their 
consumption,  it  seems  that  as  a  matter  of  public  policy 
a  certain  amount  should  be  allowed  to  every  individual 
irrespective  of  payment,  for,  as  has  been  said,  water  is 
a  universal  necessity  for  every  citizen  in  the  community. 
If  considerations  of  pubHc  health  and  social  welfare 
demand  that  the  water  supply  of  the  city  be  taken  over 
by  the  city  and  not  left  to  exploitation  by  private  com- 
panies for  profit,  it  is  equally  true  that  the  use  of  such 
water  by  citizens  must  not  be  reduced  below  the  mini- 
mum amount  necessary  for  sanitation  by  charges  which, 
though  not  exorbitant  as  compared  with  the  cost  of 
furnishing  water,  may  nevertheless  constitute  a  serious 
burden  for  a  large  class  of  persons  whose  occupations 


PUBLIC   WORKS  227 

and  surroundings  are  such  as  to  require  even  a  greater 
use  of  water  than  is  necessary  for  those  who  are  finan- 
cially better  off.  In  other  words,  as  compared  with  the 
encouragement  of  as  great  a  use  of  water  by  everyone  as 
is  desirable  from  the  point  of  view  of  social  and  sanitary 
considerations,  the  question  of  financial  returns  to  the 
city  is  secondary. 

Another  public  service  which  is  commonly  performed 
by  the  city,  and  should  always  be  so  performed,  though 
in  some  instances  still  left  to  private  undertakings,  is 
the  disposal  of  the  city's  wastes.  It  has  already  been 
seen  in  the  chapter  on  Public  Health  that  the  proper  dis- 
posal of  the  waste  of  the  city  is  an  absolute  necessity 
from  the  point  of  view  of  sanitation.  The  congested 
character  of  city  life  makes  the  problem  of  waste 
disposal,  which  in  the  country  is  a  simple  matter,  a 
consideration  of  prime  importance  and  of  considerable 
difficulty.  Wastes  are  of  different  kinds  and  are  capable 
of  different  treatment  according  to  their  nature.  In 
the  first  place  there  is  sewage,  by  which  is  meant,  pri- 
marily, the  wastes  from  the  human  body.  Secondly, 
there  is  garbage,  by  which  is  meant  the  unused  or  un- 
usable portions  of  foodstuffs.  Thirdly,  there  is  trash, 
which  includes  a  variety  of  elements,  such  as  house  and 
street  sweepings,  tin  cans,  papers,  rags  and  other  rubbish. 

The  most  important  and  difficult  problem  arises  in 
connection  with  the  first  class  of  waste,  that  is,  sewage. 
Every  modern  city,  as  has  been  seen,  must  have  a  sew- 
erage system,  that  is,  a  system  of  pipes  for  carrying 
away  the  sewage.  Dry  closets  and  cesspools  are  make- 
shifts, which,  it  is  true,  can  be  made  much  less  harmful 
and  objectionable  than  they  commonly  are,  but  which  at 
best  are  unworthy  of  modern  conceptions  of  cleanliness 
and  sanitation.     A   sewerage  system   involves  the  con- 


228  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

nection  of  the  sanitary  conveniences  of  all  houses  with 
a  system  of  mains  which  carry  away  the  sewage.  The 
problem  of  a  proper  sewerage  system  and  of  the  final 
disposal  of  the  sewage  are  two  distinct  problems,  though, 
of  course,  closely  connected  in  practice.  The  difficulties 
in  the  sewerage  system,  that  is,  the  system  of  pipes  that 
carry  away  the  sewage,  are  in  large  part  technical  en- 
gineering problems  which  can  properly  be  solved  only 
by  the  aid  of  expert  engineering  skill.  Some  of  the 
questions  are,  however,  more  largely  questions  of  policy 
than  of  engineering  technicalities.  There  is,  in  the  first 
place,  the  question  of  the  size  of  the  sewers.  The  meas- 
urement of  the  volume  of  sewage,  which  includes  the 
wastes  from  all  appliances  using  water,  such  as  sinks, 
wash  bowls,  bath  tubs  and  closets,  is,  of  course,  a  matter 
of  engineering  calculation,  but  is  in  general  roughly 
equal  to  the  per  capita  consumption  of  water,  where  all 
the  users  of  water  turn  the  used  water  and  surplus  into 
the  sewers.  But  the  question  arises  at  once  as  to  what 
shall  be  done  with  the  surface  water  from  rains,  which 
are  ordinarily  collected  in  drains  from  the  streets.  If 
this  surface  drainage  is  excluded,  the  flow  of  sewage  is 
fairly  proportionate  to  the  population  and  does  not  nor- 
mally vary  more  than  does  the  consumption  of  water. 
The  calculation  of  the  desired  size  of  the  sewer,  taking 
into  account  normal  increase  in  population  and  in  the 
use  of  sanitary  conveniences  and  water  for  commercial 
purposes,  is  therefore  a  fairly  simple  matter.  If,  how- 
ever, the  surface  drainage  is  not  taken  care  of  in  special 
storm  sewers  the  matter  becomes  more  complicated,  for 
not  only  must  the  sewers  be  much  larger  than  would  be 
necessary  for  the  carrying  away  of  sewage  proper,  but 
they  must  be  large  enough  to  take  care  of  the  maximum 
discharge,  which  may  be  much  greater  than  the  mini- 


PUBLIC   WORKS  229 

mum,  thus  necessitating  a  size  which  is  greater  than 
will  be  needed  except  on  relatively  rare  occasions. 

Of  course,  the  same  difficulty  of  estimating  the  requi- 
site size  remains,  if  the  surface  drainage  is  carried  off 
in  special  storm  sewers,  and  the  same  expense  of  build- 
ing larger  drains  than  are  required  for  much  the  greatest 
part  of  the  time.  But  the  separate  system  of  storm 
sewers  or  drains  has  several  important  advantages  which 
seem  to  recommend  that  plan  rather  than  the  single 
sewer  system,  in  spite  of  the  additional  expense  that  may 
be  involved.  In  the  first  place,  in  times  of  extraordi- 
nary flood  waters  which  may  overtax  even  a  large  sys- 
tem calculated  to  take  care  of  all  reasonably  to  be 
expected  floods,  the  single  system  has  the  great  disad- 
vantage that,  if  a  backing  up  and  overflow  of  the  waters 
result,  a  serious  menace  to  the  public  health  arises  from 
the  discharge  of  sewage  into  houses  and  onto  the  streets. 
The  separate  storm  sewers,  on  the  other  hand,  even  when 
overtaxed,  do  not  overflow  the  streets  with  disease-laden 
sewage  and  will  rarely  reach  the  homes  at  all.  Further- 
more, as  will  appear  later,  the  problem  of  sewage  dis- 
posal is  greatly  complicated  by  the  single  sewerage  sys- 
tem. The  outflow  from  the  ordinary  storm  sewers  can 
with  safety  be  discharged  into  streams  without  treatment, 
whereas  the  outflow  of  sanitary  sewers  requires  further 
treatment  in  the  interest  of  the  public  health  of  other 
communities.  But  if  the  storm  water  is  carried  in 
the  sanitary  sewer  system,  the  sewage  disposal  plant 
must  be  so  constructed  as  to  handle  the  maximum 
amounts  of  discharge  even  in  times  of  flood,  causing  a 
serious  increase  in  the  expense  and  complication  of  the 
sewage  treatment  problem. 

Aside  from  the  size  of  the  sewerage  system,  there  are 
many  important  engineering  questions  to  be  settled,  such 
16 


230  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

as  the  best  materials  for  the  pipes,  the  proper  grade  of 
the  sewers  to  insure  against  stoppage  of  the  flow,  pro- 
visions for  ventilating  and  flushing  the  sewers,  and  a 
host  of  other  matters.  The  sewer  plan  of  a  city  should 
obviously  be  a  comprehensive  one  based  on  the  existing 
situation  in  the  city  with  regard  to  the  areas  to  be  served 
and  also  on  the  probable  developments  and  extensions 
of  those  areas. 

Until  comparatively  recent  times  the  chief  problem  in 
connection  with  the  sewerage  systems  of  cities  were 
those  indicated  above.  The  sewage  was  collected  by 
the  sewerage  system  and  discharged  without  treatment 
at  the  mouth  of  the  sewer.  The  only  consideration  that 
played  any  part  in  the  problem  of  where  to  put  the  sew- 
age was  the  safety  and  convenience  of  the  city  itself. 
For  that  reason  emptying  the  sewage  into  some  conve- 
nient body  of  water  was  the  almost  universal  method. 
If  the  city  was  located  on  the  ocean  the  common  method 
was,  and  is  today,  to  empty  it  into  the  sea.  If  the  outlet 
of  the  sewer  was  put  far  enough  out  into  the  ocean  the 
interest  of  the  city  in  question  ceased,  though  many 
cities  suffered  for  a  long  time  from  the  inconvenience 
resulting  from  failing  to  carry  the  sewage  far  enough 
away.  The  health  of  the  inhabitants  was,  however,  not 
seriously  endangered  because  the  sea  water  was  not  used 
for  drinking  or  cleansing  purposes.  But  even  this  plan 
involved  a  certain  amount  of  danger,  because  typhoid 
fever,  the  greatest  source  of  danger  to  public  health 
carried  by  sewage,  was  found  to  be  conveyed  by  oysters 
taken  from  beds  near  which  city  sewers  were  emptied. 
In  the  interests  of  public  health  and  of  the  oyster  in- 
dustry, therefore,  it  became  necessary  to  insure  that 
the  sewage  was  carried  out  a  sufficient  distance  into  the 
ocean.     Where,  however,  cities  are  located  on  bodies  of 


PUBLIC   WORKS  231 

fresh  water,  even  of  the  largest  lakes,  such  as  the  Great 
Lakes  of  the  United  States,  the  emptying  of  untreated 
sewage,  even  at  great  distances  from  the  shore,  was 
found  to  be  inimical  to  the  public  health  not  only  of 
the  city  itself,  but  also  of  other  cities,  where,  as  is  usu- 
ally the  case,  the  lake  in  question  was  also  the  source 
of  the  city's  water  supply.  Finally,  the  result  of  empty- 
ing raw  or  untreated  sewage  into  running  streams, 
though  not  endangering  in  general  the  health  of  the 
offending  city,  was  none  the  less  objectionable  from  a 
large  public  health  point  of  view.  With  the  realization 
of  the  danger  involved  in  the  practice  of  dealing  with 
raw  sewage  in  this  way  arose  the  requirement  that  city 
sewage  be  treated  in  a  way  to  reduce,  even  if  it  could 
not  eliminate  altogether,  the  pollution  of  water  supplies. 

There  are  a  variety  of  ways  that  have  been  adopted 
for  the  treatment  of  sewage  with  that  in  view,  some  of 
the  more  common  of  which  will  be  briefly  described 
here.  They  vary  considerably  as  to  the  amount  of  puri- 
fication they  accomplish,  none  of  them,  however,  attempt- 
ing to  transform  the  sewage  in  such  a  way  that  the 
sewage  in  its  changed  condition  could  safely  be  put  into 
immediate  contact  with  a  supply  of  drinking  water 
without  danger.  Further  purification  will  always  be 
required  either  by  natural  processes,  that  is,  by  the 
natural  action  of  the  oxygen  and  of  the  bacteria  con- 
tained in  the  water  into  which  the  treated  sewage  is 
emptied,  or  by  means  of  filtration  of  the  water  supply 
as  described  above,  or  both. 

One  method  of  sewage  disposal  that  is  common  in 
European  cities  is  the  so-called  broad  irrigation  plan. 
Under  this  plan  the  sewage  is  simply  carried  some  dis- 
tance outside  the  city  and  there  spread  on  the  land  by 
means  of  irrigation  ditches.     This  involves  no  treatment 


232  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

of  the  sewage,  but  merely  discharging  it  in  a  place  where 
it  will  not  be  offensive.  It  requires  a  great  deal  of  land, 
for  the  amount  of  sewage  that  can  be  spread  on  an 
acre  of  land  in  this  way  without  becoming  offensive, 
thougli  varying  greatly  with  the  character  of  the  soil, 
is  always  limited.  The  land  that  is  thus  irrigated  can 
be  used,  however,  for  agricultural  purposes  without  dan- 
ger to  public  health,  and  may,  therefore,  yield  consider- 
able returns. 

Most  other  methods  of  sewage  treatment  involve  as  a 
preliminary  step,  the  separation  of  the  solid  substances 
from  the  liquid.  Sewage,  particularly  in  American 
cities,  is  about  ninety-nine  per  cent  water  and  only  one 
per  cent  solid  matter,  but  it  is  the  solid  matter  which  is 
putrescible  and  causes  the  chief  difficulty  in  the  sewage 
disposal  problem.  One  way  of  removing  the  solids  from 
the  liquids  is  simply  to  screen  the  raw  sewage.  This 
method  leaves  the  solid  matter  to  be  disposed  of  in  some 
other  way  and  does  not  in  any  way  purify  the  liquids 
that  pass  on  with  the  same  bacterial  content  as  before. 
Another  way,  and  one  that  has  been  used  considerably 
in  this  country,  is  to  separate  the  solid  matter,  or  sludge, 
from  the  Hquid  matter,  or  effluent,  by  means  of  sedi- 
mentation, which  permits  the  sludge  to  settle  on  the 
bottom  of  a  tank  and  the  effluent  to  flow  off.  This  step 
is  a  preliminary  to  various  plans  of  sewage  treatment 
which  differ  principally  in  the  method  of  removing  the 
sludge  and  the  treatment  of  the  effluent.  Simply  to  rely 
on  settling  basins  is  no  more  effective  than  the  screen- 
ing process,  for  the  sludge  remains  to  be  disposed  of 
and  the  effluent  is  not  purified  in  any  way.  Yet  both 
screening  and  settling,  hastened  by  the  use  of  chemicals 
to  precipitate  the  solid  matter,  and  hence  known  as 
chemical  precipitation,  are  in  use  in  a  number  of  cities 


PUBLIC    WORKS  233 

as  the  sole  method  of  sewage  treatment.  It  is  obviously 
better  to  have  this  clone  than  nothing  at  all,  for  the 
putrefaction  of  the  organic  matter  in  the  sewage  which 
is  such  a  serious  nuisance  is  in  that  way  prevented.  But 
the  handling  of  the  sludge  is  itself  a  difficult  matter  and 
may  also  give  rise  not  merely  to  noxious  odors,  necessi- 
tating the  location  of  the  sewage  works  at  a  considerable 
distance  from  human  dwellings,  but  also,  of  course,  to 
sanitary  dangers  if  not  properly  protected  against  flies. 
Burning  or  disinfection  of  the  sludge  will  therefore  be 
necessary  in  either  of  these  cases. 

A  more  elaborate  variation  of  the  sedimentation  proc- 
ess is  by  means  of  the  so-called  septic  tank.  In  this 
process,  decomposition  of  the  solid  matter  in  the  sewage 
is  occasioned  in  the  tanks  and  a  much  smaller  amount 
of  sludge  is  left  per  gallon  of  raw  sewage  than  in  the 
case  of  ordinary  sedimentation.  This  sludge  must  also 
be  removed  at  stated  intervals,  though  less  frequently 
than  in  the  case  of  the  ordinary  chemical  precipitation, 
and  the  effluent  is  also  practically  as  dangerous  as  be- 
fore, though  some  purification  occurs  in  the  process.  It 
is  possible,  however,  to  operate  the  best  forms  of  septic 
tanks  without  creating  a  serious  nuisance,  even  in  the 
immediate  surroundings.  A  recent  improvement  of  the 
septic  tank  process,  which  seems  to  promise  good  results, 
is  the  so-called  activated  sludge  process,  whereby  the 
breaking  up  of  the  solid  matter  through  aerobic  bacteria 
is  greatly  facilitated  by  the  forcing  of  air  bubbles  through 
the  bottom. 

Other  methods  of  sewage  treatment  are  based  on  the 
process  of  filtering  the  raw  sewage  and  drawing  off  the 
effluent  below,  leaving  the  organic  solid  matter  to  be 
purified  by  contact  with  the  air.  This  plan  has  the  great 
merit  not  merely  of  making  the  organic  matter  inoffen- 


234  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

sive,  but  also  of  purifying  to  a  considerable  extent  the 
efifluent  itself,  much  on  the  same  principle  that  the  fil- 
tration of  the  water  supply  itself  operates.  Even  the 
most  effective  of  several  methods  of  filtration,  from  this 
point  of  view,  the  so-called  sprinkling  filter  system,  does 
not  leave  the  effluent  free  enough  from  pathogenic  bac- 
teria so  that  it  could  be  turned  immediately  into  a  water 
supply  without  serious  danger  to  the  users.  All  of  the 
filter  systems  of  sewage  treatment  are  based  on  the 
principle  of  the  purification  of  the  solid  matter  in  the 
pores  of  the  filter  beds  by  allowing  the  action  of  the  air 
and  of  bacteria  to  work  upon  it.  The  effluent  itself  can 
be  completely  sterilized  by  the  use  of  chlorine. 

The  eternal  practical  question  recurs  again  as  to  what 
kind  of  sewage  disposal  is  the  best,  and  the  same  unsatis- 
factory answer  must  be  given,  "That  depends."  It  de- 
pends, in  the  first  place,  on  what  it  is  believed  a  sewage 
disposal  plant  should  do.  We  have  already  seen  that 
the  absolute  and  complete  purification  of  sewage  is 
hardly  to  be  considered  the  practical  ideal  to  be  adopted, 
though  it  can  be  practically  attained  at  a  considerable 
expense.  Where  there  is  no  way  in  which  the  effluent 
from  the  sewage  of  one  city  can  be  kept  from  coming 
into  immediate  contact  with  the  source  of  an  otherwise 
pure  supply  of  drinking  water  for  another  city,  it  may 
be  fairer  to  impose  the  cost  of  health  protection  on  the 
city  that  is  the  sole  cause  of  the  pollution,  rather  than 
on  the  city  which  is  threatened.  But  such  is  rarely  the 
situation.  Generally  the  effluent  will  be  discharged  into 
a  stream  or  other  body  of  water  at  some  considerable 
distance  from  the  intake  of  the  nearest  city  waterworks, 
and  natural  oxidation  can  meanwhile  do  a  good  deal 
toward  purifying  the  effluent  by  dilution.  If  the  con- 
ditions of  flow  are  right,  the  original  pollution  may  en- 


PUBLIC   WORKS  235 

tirely  disappear  before  the  water  reaches  the  next  source 
of  water  supply.  Furthermore,  there  is  usually  the  dan- 
ger of  pollution  from  other  sources  along  the  waterway 
that  make  it  necessary  for  the  city  to  filter  its  water 
anyway  as  a  measure  of  public  health  protection.  In 
that  case  the  removal  of  the  organic  matter  and  a  rea- 
sonable dilution  of  the  effluent  may  be  all  that  is  required, 
since  no  additional  burden  is  imposed  upon  other  com- 
munities. The  system  of  sewage  farms  or  broad  irriga- 
tion has  this  obvious  merit  not  only  of  leaving  the  ground 
used  for  sewage  disposal  available  for  agriculture,  but 
also  of  keeping  the  sewage  of  the  city  entirely  away  from 
other  communities,  the  liquids  which  flow  ofif  through 
seepage  being  ordinarily  sufficiently  filtered  before  they 
reach  any  possible  source  of  water  supply.  Next  to 
the  question  of  rea.sonably  safeguarding  other  communi- 
ties, which  is  the  chief  factor  in  bringing  about  the 
abandonment  of  the  formerly  universal  practice  of  emp- 
tying raw  sewage  into  the  nearest  watercourse  or  other 
body  of  water,  comes  the  fundamental  question  of  cost. 
As  in  the  case  of  almost  all  municipal  undertakings 
requiring  the  use  of  land  for  administration  and  the 
use  of  materials  and  labor,  skilled  and  unskilled,  for 
construction  and  operation,  it  is  impossible  to  make 
statements  of  cost  that  will  hold  good  for  more  than 
one  community.  Great  variations  exist  in  the  matter  of 
initial  cost  and  cost  of  operation  of  the  different  methods. 
Furthermore,  as  in  the  case  of  sewage  farms,  for  in- 
stance, or  in  the  disposition  of  the  sludge,  there  is  the 
possibility  of  some  financial  returns  from  the  products, 
though  in  no  case  are  sewage  disposal  works  capable  of 
maintaining  themselves  from  such  sales.  Finally,  there 
are  differences  of  soil  and  of  climate,  which  may  make 
a  system  of   sewage  disposal  that   works   well   in  one 


236  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

place  utterly  unsuited  to  the  conditions  found  in  another 
place.  Extreme  cold,  for  instance,  makes  any  of  the 
methods  of  filtration  more  difficult,  while  clay  or  other 
impervious  soil  may  make  broad  irrigation  out  of  the 
question.  Nor  are  the  methods  of  sewage  disposal 
enumerated  above  by  any  means  the  only  methods  that 
have  been  devised,  though  they  are  the  ones  most  com- 
monly in  use.  New  methods  of  treatment  are  being 
developed  which,  when  perfected,  may  prove  to  be  clearly 
superior  to  any  now  in  use.  That  consideration  would 
seem  to  be  an  argument  in  favor  of  adopting  the  system 
which,  if  otherwise  satisfactory,  requires  the  smallest 
investment  of  money  in  a  plant  that  becomes  valueless 
if  no  longer  used  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
constructed. 

The  matter  of  sewer  charges  presents  an  interesting 
question.  Although  in  Germany,  and  in  some  cities  of 
this  country,  users  of  the  sanitary  sewers  are  cliarged  a 
certain  rental,  the  overwhelming  practice  in  the  cities 
of  the  United  States  is  to  furnish  sewerage  free  and 
pay  for  the  operation  of  the  sewer  system  out  of  the 
general  revenues.  This  almost  universal  practice  seems 
to  be  based  on  the  conviction  that  sewerage  is  a  common 
municipal  service,  to  be  rendered  without  charge,  though 
the  cost  of  laying  mains  and  making  connections  is  fre- 
quently charged,  in  part  at  least,  to  house  owners.  The 
interesting  question  that  at  once  occurs  is,  why  should 
sewerage  service  be  treated  so  differently  from  water 
service?  A  system  of  sanitary  sewers  is  certainly  no 
more  intimately  connected  with  the  public  health  than 
is  a  pure  water  supply.  Water  is  an  absolute  necessity 
and  the  lack  of  a  pure  water  supply  is  one  of  the  most 
serious  situations  that  can  confront  a  city,  whereas,  as 
has  been  seen,  dry  closets  and  cesspools  can  be  used  and 


PUBLIC   WORKS  237 

are  in  some  places  used,  in  a  way  so  as  not  to  constitute 
a  serious  menace  to  the  public  healtli.  If  people  are 
compelled  to  rely  on  private  wells  for  their  water,  the 
danger  to  their  health  may  be  greater  than  if  they  are 
compelled  to  care  for  their  own  wastes.  The  only  dif- 
ference would  seem  to  He  in  the  fact  that  the  lack  of 
service  by  the  city's  pure  water  supply  constitutes  a 
danger  primarily  for  the  individual,  whereas  the  lack 
of  service  by  the  city's  sewerage  system  constitutes  a 
danger  and  a  nuisance  for  others.  This  distinction  is 
only  partly  a  true  statement  of  the  case  and  does  not 
seem  to  warrant  the  fundamental  difference  in  the  prac- 
tice of  American  cities  which  has  just  been  noted.  The 
same  reasons  that  operate  to  make  the  expense  of  the 
sewer  system  a  public  charge  would  seem  to  apply  in 
the  case  of  the  water  supply,  at  least  within  the  limits 
suggested  above  when  the  matter  of  water  rates  was 
under  consideration. 

As  distinguished  from  sewage,  the  other  wastes  of 
the  city  present  a  less  serious  problem,  at  least  from  the 
health  point  of  view.  The  other  wastes  may  be  classified 
as  wastes  that  accumulate  on  public  property  and  pri- 
vate or  house  wastes.  The  former  include  principally 
street  sweepings,  which  may  contain  both  organic  and 
inorganic  matter.  The  necessity  of  cleaning  the  streets 
is  partly  one  of  traffic  needs,  partly  one  of  esthetics,  but 
mainly  one  of  public  health  requirements,  particularly 
where  organic  matter  comes  into  question.  Dirt  and 
filth  of  this  kind  are  the  chief  breeding  places  for  flies 
and  the  home  of  disease  germs,  and  the  city  must,  in 
consequence,  see  that  its  streets  do  not  become  a  menace 
to  the  public  health.  As  has  already  been  suggested  in 
another  connection,  the  rapid  displacement  of  the  horse 
by  the  automobile  in  city  streets  simplifies  the  problem 


238  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

of  street  cleaning  considerably,  for  it  eliminates  a  dis- 
agreeable and  difficult  element  in  the  street  sweepings. 
The  work  of  street  cleaning,  like  that  of  the  care  for 
sewage,  consists  of  two  parts,  the  collection  of  the  waste 
and  the  disposal  thereof.     The  collection  is  a  relatively 
simple  proposition,  as  it  requires  merely  sufficient  men 
and  instruments  to  carry  it  on  effectively.     Numerous 
mechanical   devices   have  been   perfected    for   sweeping 
the  streets,  but  the  actual  work  of  collection  is  usually 
done  by  a  squad  of  men  with  hand  brooms  and  shovels. 
The  work  has  to  be  done  for  the  most  part  at  night,  at 
least  in  the  busier  streets,  though  some  work  can  and 
should  be  done  throughout  the  day  in  collecting  papers 
and  other  litter  that  blows  about  the  streets.    The  street 
sweepings  are  sometimes  merely  flushed  into  the  sewers, 
but  to  this  plan  there  are  serious  objections,  particularly 
if  the  same  sewer  takes  care  of  sewage  and  of  the  sur- 
face drainage,  for  street  sweepings  contain  matter  that 
does  not  yield  readily  to  the  treatment  of  sewage  in  any 
of  the  ways  considered  above.     Even  if  there  are  sepa- 
rate storm  sewers  large  enough  to  take  care  of  all  sweep- 
ings that  may  be  flushed  into  them,  the  effluent  from  the 
storm  sewers  may  become  a  nuisance.    It  is  the  common 
practice,  therefore,  to  cart  away  the  street  sweepings. 
The  vehicles  used  for  this  purpose  must  be  of  particular 
construction  to  prevent  the  blowing  about  of  the  sweep- 
ings from  the  carts  back  onto  the  streets. 

Street  sweepings  may  be  disposed  of  in  several  ways. 
Where  there  is  still  considerable  horse-drawn  traffic  in 
the  streets  the  sweepings  consequently  contain  a  large 
amount  of  manure,  which  has  some  value  as  fertilizer. 
The  cost  of  transportation  to  the  point  where  the  fer- 
tilizer can  be  used  is  usually,  however,  at  least  in  the 
case  of  the  larger  cities,  greater  than  the  market  value 


PUBLIC   WORKS  239 

of  the  sweepings  as  fertilizer,  and  that  method  is  there- 
fore rarely  practicable.  The  two  commonest  ways  of 
disposing  of  such  sweepings  are  to  burn  them,  for  they 
are  composed  largely  of  readily  combustible  matter,  or 
to  cart  them  to  low  ground  for  filling.  In  either  case 
the  expense  of  carting  them  through  long  distances  is  a 
very  considerable  item  in  the  street  cleaning  cost.  In 
the  northern  cities  of  this  country  the  problem  of  snow 
removal  is  a  serious  one  from  the  administrative  point 
of  view,  because  it  usually  calls  for  an  extraordinary 
force  of  men  for  a  short  time  and  at  brief  notice.  The 
removal  of  snow  from  the  sidewalks,  like  the  care  of  the 
condition  of  the  sidewalks  in  general  from  the  point  of 
view  of  cleanliness,  is  left  to  the  individual  property 
owners.  But  as  these  commonly  deposit  both  the  sweep- 
ings and  the  snow  in  the  street  in  front  of  tlie  property, 
it  amounts  merely  to  adding  to  the  amoimt  of  material 
to  be  removed  by  the  city.  Snow  is  frequently  removed 
in  carts,  like  street  sweepings,  but  an  effective  method 
of  getting  rid  of  it  in  streets  where  there  are  large 
storm  sewers  is  to  have  good-sized  openings  at  frequent 
intervals  into  which  the  snow  can  be  emptied  and  car- 
ried away  as  it  melts. 

A  third  important  class  of  city  wastes  are  the  house 
wastes,  that  is,  those  wastes  from  the  houses  in  the  city 
which  are  not  emptied  into  the  sewers.  This  kind  of 
waste  has  been  variously  classified  for  purposes  of  treat- 
ment and  does,  in  fact,  present  certain  differences  which 
are  important  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  manner  of 
collection  and  disposal.  Generally  speaking,  house  waste 
comprises  organic  and  inorganic  matter.  The  organic 
matter  is  the  remains  of  food  used  in  the  house  and  is 
commonly  called  garbage.  The  inorganic  matter  com- 
prises  ashes,   papers,   tin   cans,   sweepings,   and   all   the 


240  MUNICIPAL   FUNXTIONS 

odds  and  ends  that  are  commonly  thrown  out  of  the 
house  under  the  name  of  trash.  The  collection  and  dis- 
posal of  these  various  house  wastes  are  just  as  truly 
functions  of  the  city  as  are  the  collection  and  disposal 
of  sewage.  Though  the  sanitary  consequences  of  failure 
to  treat  this  class  of  wastes  may  not  be  so  immediately 
serious  as  they  are  in  the  case  of  failure  to  handle  the 
sewage  problem  efificiently,  nevertheless  cleanliness  and 
public  health  are  impossible  without  proper  handling  of 
all  these  sources  of  dirt.  This  is  particularly  true  of 
the  organic  matter  called  garbage,  which,  especially  in 
the  summer  time,  quickly  becomes  a  source  of  noxious 
odors  and,  as  a  breeding  place  for  flies,  a  real  menace 
to  public  health.  Curiously  enough,  however,  the  col- 
lection and  disposal  of  garbage  is  more  frequently  left 
to  the  individual  householder  than  is  the  disposal  of 
the  less  offensive  and  dangerous  class  of  waste  that  con- 
tains merely  inorganic  matter. 

Where  both  classes  of  waste  are  collected  by  the  city, 
it  is  not  uncommon  to  require  that  they  be  kept  separate 
and  deposited  in  distinct  receptacles.  This  provision  is 
intended  to  facilitate  the  final  disposal,  for  the  two  kinds 
of  waste  may  be  and  should  be  differently  treated.  The 
separation  of  the  waste,  however,  imposes  added  expense 
and  trouble  on  the  householder  and  necessitates  more 
men  and  wagons  for  the  city.  Both  receptacles  should 
be  provided  with  tight  covers  to  keep  out  flies.  The 
frequency  of  collections  will,  of  course,  depend  some- 
what on  local  conditions.  In  cold  winter  climates  the 
accumulation  of  ashes  is  very  rapid  during  some  months 
of  the  year  and  practically  nil  in  others.  On  the  other 
hand,  during  the  hot  summer  months  garbage  must  be 
collected  frequently,  irrespective  of  volume,  in  order  to 
prevent  putrefaction  and  disagreeable  odors. 


PUBLIC   WORKS  241 

The  inorganic  matter  can  be  disposed  of  with  com- 
paratively Httle  difficulty  by  incineration  or  by  using  it 
for  fill.  Garbage  can  also  be  incinerated,  though  it  is 
not  such  a  simple  matter,  but  it  cannot  be  used  for  dump- 
ing without  great  offense  to  surrounding  property  and 
danger  to  health.  A  number  of  plans  for  treating  gar- 
bage have  been  devised  which  are  intended  to  preserve 
some  of  the  usable  elements  in  the  garbage,  such  as  oils 
and  fats.  The  process  of  reduction,  of  which  there  are 
several  different  kinds  in  use,  extracts  the  oils  and  fats 
for  commercial  use  and  leaves  a  residue  which  can  also 
be  used  for  fertilizing.  It  is  not  likely  that  any  great 
profit  can  be  made  out  of  any  of  these  plans  over  and 
above  the  cost  of  operation,  but  at  least  some  returns 
can  be  had,  and  the  fact  that  private  companies  find  it 
profitable  to  operate  such  plants  would  tend  to  show  that 
it  was  worth  while  for  the  city  to  do  so  as  well.  Where 
the  garbage  is  not  kept  separate  from  the  other  wastes 
they  can  all  be  consumed  together  by  their  own  heat. 
Where  garbage  is  kept  separate  anrl  the  other  wastes 
are  picked  over  for  the  removal  of  non-cumbustible 
matter,  there  is  a  surplus  of  heat  generated  by  the  com- 
bustion which  can  be  used  to  some  extent  for  other 
purposes,  such  as  generating  steam  for  power  plants, 
etc.,  but  it  is  doubtful  how  far  this  can  really  be  done 
with  profit. 

The  furnishing  of  a  water  supply  for  the  city  and 
the  taking  care  of  the  city's  wastes  are  the  two  most 
common  forms  of  municipal  works  in  this  country. 
There  are  others,  like  electric  light  and  gas  works,  which 
are  not  uncommon  as  municipal  undertakings,  either  in 
this  country  or  abroad;  still  others,  like  markets  and 
street  railways,  which  are  uncommon  in  this  country  but 
quite  general  in  European  cities ;  and  yet  others  which, 


242  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

like  the  milk  supply,  might  very  properly  be  undertaken 
by  cities,  but  are  not,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  generally  con- 
sidered as  municipal  undertakings  either  here  or  else- 
where. The  relation  of  the  city  to  some  of  these  other 
public  services  will  be  considered  in  the  following  chap- 
ter. There  remains  to  be  considered  here  only  one  rather 
mooted  question  with  regard  to  one  of  the  more  com- 
mon of  municipal  undertakings  considered  above.  That 
is,  the  question  of  whether  the  city,  though  considering 
the  works  in  question  properly  a  matter  to  be  provided 
and  paid  for  out  of  the  public  treasury,  should  itself 
employ  the  labor  required  for  the  construction  and 
maintenance  of  the  streets,  for  instance,  or  should  let  it 
be  done  by  private  concerns  under  contract.  There  are 
many  arguments  advanced  in  favor  of  each  of  the  two 
plans,  some  of  which  are  well  founded,  while  others  are 
purely  specious.  The  advocates  of  each  plan  are  prone 
to  overemphasize  the  good  possibilities  of  that  plan  and 
the  defects  of  the  other,  until  one  is  driven  to  the  con- 
clusion that  here,  too,  no  general  and  dogmatic  answer 
is  possible. 

Under  ideal  conditions  it  seems  safe  to  say  that  the 
direct  system  is  better  than  the  contract  system.  That 
is,  if  the  city  could  and  would  employ  as  good  labor  and 
help  throughout  at  the  same  rates,  and  purchase  mate- 
rials at  the  same  prices  as  are  paid  by  private  concerns, 
it  is  clear  that  the  profits  of  the  undertaking,  instead  of 
going  into  the  pockets  of  the  contractors,  who,  of  course, 
expect  and  obtain  a  reasonable  profit  from  the  work, 
would  inure  to  the  benefit  of  the  public  through  a  saving 
to  the  city  treasury.  These  ideal  conditions,  however, 
presuppose  a  situation  that  rarely  if  ever  exists,  namely, 
efficient,  non-political  administration  at  every  stage  of  the 
proceedings.      Quite   commonly    inefficiency    in   the   en- 


PUBLIC   WORKS  243 

gineering  department,  lax  direction  of  the  laborers,  care- 
lessness, favoritism  or  even  corruption  in  the  purchase 
of  supplies  much  more  than  wipe  out  the  profits  which 
an  efficient,  upright  contractor  could  legitimately  make 
out  of  the  job.  As  compared  with  the  best  results  that 
are  obtainable  under  the  contract  system,  the  direct  sys- 
tem as  actually  worked  in  our  cities  shows  up  to  a 
decided  disadvantage,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  con- 
tract system  is  obviously  the  better  plan. 

Unfortunately,  however,  a  satisfactory  contract  job  is 
about  as  rare,  under  actual  conditions,  as  is  an  efficient 
direct  job.  Contractors  themselves  are  frequently  ineffi- 
cient and  quite  as  often  indifferent  to  any  interests  other 
than  their  own,  and  as  ready  to  engage  in  corrupt  prac- 
tices as  are  the  officeholders  with  whom  they  deal  and 
those  who  would  have  the  work  in  charge  if  done  di- 
rectly by  the  city.  Contracts  are  often  let  upon  the 
basis  of  favoritism  or  collusion,  instead  of  fair  and  free 
competition,  their  terms  are  not  clear,  and  their  enforce- 
ment is  lax.  Under  those  conditions  it  is  manifest  that 
the  interests  of  the  public  are  quite  as  likely  to  suffer 
as  regards  the  character  of  the  output  as  they  would 
under  the  direct  system,  inefficiently  managed.  It  is 
true  that  many  devices  have  been  suggested  for  insuring 
that  the  competition  is  fair,  that  the  work  is  done  for 
the  city  at  the  lowest  reasonable  price,  and  that  the  qual- 
ity of  the  completed  job  shall  meet  the  specifications  of 
the  contract.  These  devices  are,  however,  in  no  case 
automatic,  and  depend  in  the  last  analysis  on  the  ability, 
energy,  and  honesty  of  the  human  beings  charged  witli 
their  application.  If  these  conditions  are  lacking,  these 
so-called  safeguards  become  worse  than  useless,  for  they 
lull  the  public  into  believing  that  everything  is  safe  and 
that  their  interests  are  in  some  mysterious  manner  put 


244  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

out  of  harm's  way.  If  the  experience  of  direct  munici- 
pal administration  has  a  disheartening  record  of  waste- 
fuhiess  and  corruption  to  show,  so  has  the  story  of  the 
contract  system  of  constructing  pubHc  works. 

The  choice  would  seem,  therefore,  to  lie,  in  this  coun- 
try at  least,  ^between  two  evils.  If  the  administrative 
branch  of  the  city  is  both  inefficient  and  dishonest,  as 
is  sometimes  the  sad  situation,  there  is  obviously  no  hope 
from  either  the  direct  system  or  the  contract  system. 
If  the  administrative  service  of  the  city  is  inefficient  but 
honest,  a  situation  that  is,  perhaps,  the  normal  one,  in 
spite  of  pessimistic  views  that  the  first  hypothesis  rep- 
resents the  normal  case,  it  is  possible  that  the  contract 
system  can  be  safeguarded  sufficiently  in  the  ''nterests 
of  the  city,  though  the  relative  inefficiency  of  the  city's 
officials,  even  as  supervising  organs,  puts  them  at  a  dis- 
advantage with  astute  but  self-interested  contractors. 
If  the  city  should  have  real  ability  available  in  its  ad- 
ministrative departments,  it  is  not  improbable  that  the 
public  control  in  the  interests  of  honesty  might  be  more 
effective  where  the  city  itself  does  the  work  than  where 
it  looks  merely  to  the  difficult  and  somewhat  obscure 
task  of  seeing  that  complicated  contract  conditions  are 
complied  with. 

The  fourth  alternative  set  forth  above,  namely,  that 
there  are  both  efficiency  and  honesty  in  the  public  works' 
administration  of  the  city,  by  far  the  rarest  case  of  all, 
seems  to  be  the  only  one  in  which  the  system  of  direct 
administration  shows  obvious  advantages  over  the  con- 
tract system  when  considered  in  its  best  light.  Local 
conditions  will  therefore  in  this  matter  be  largely  deter- 
minative, but,  generally  speaking,  honesty  may  be  re- 
garded at  present  as  an  end  that  is  much  nearer  being 
attained  in  American  cities  than  is  administrative  effi- 


PUBLIC   WORKS  245 

ciency.  As  the  work  of  supervision  does  not  involve  so 
many  problems  of  administration  and  technical  expert- 
ness  as  does  the  work  of  direct  administration,  it  would 
seem  that,  under  ordinary  conditions  today,  there  was 
somewhat  more  promise  of  satisfaction  under  the  con- 
tract system  admitted  under  the  approved  instruments 
of  control,  than  under  the  system  of  direct  administration. 
This,  it  must  be  understood,  is  largely  a  matter  of 
opinion,  for  the  evidence  obtainable  from  the  cities  that 
have  experimented  with  the  two  systems  is  quite  con- 
flicting and,  on  the  whole,  not  very  convincing.  In  a 
measure,  therefore,  the  answer  will  depend  on  general 
questions  of  policy  with  regard  to  municipal  activity, 
much  like  those  involved  in  the  mooted  question  of  the 
ownership  and  operation  of  public  utilities  in  general, 
which  will  be  taken  up  in  the  next  chapters. 


17 


CHAPTER   IX 

PUBLIC    UTILITIES^ 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  mooted  questions  in  the  field 
of  municipal  functions  today  is  the  one  concerning  the 
relation  of  the  city  to  certain  services,  commonly  desig- 
nated as  public  utilities.  In  a  broad  sense,  of  course, 
every  activity  of  the  city  must  be  directly  or  indirectly 
a  public  service,  else  it  has  no  excuse  for  existence.  But 
what  is  meant  by  public  utilities,  in  the  sense  in  which 
that  term  is  now  so  commonly  used,  are  those  under- 
takings, in  which  something  in  the  nature  of  a  salable 
commodity  is  produced  and  sold  to  the  public  as  users, 
which  private  capital  finds  it  profitable  to  provide,  differ- 
ing therein  from  police  protection,  the  care  for  public 
health,  and  the  other  so-called  governmental  activities 
of  cities.  Though  the  general  distinction  between  public 
utilities  and  strictly  governmental  functions  is  not  so 
difficult  to  draw,  the  determination  of  what  private 
enterprises  are  public  utilities  and  what  are  merely  pri- 
vate business,  is  a  much  more  difficult  matter.  Generally 
speaking,  public  utilities  are  those  undertakings  which 
are  affected  with  a  public  interest,  but  that  definition 

1  This  subject  is  also  treated  at  length  in  King:  The  Regulation 
of  Municipal  Utilities,  1912,  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  Pub- 
lishers, Xew  York. — Editor. 

346 


PUBLIC   UTILITIES  247 

does  not  define,  for  tlie  question  still  remains :  what  is 
the  public  interest  which  will  put  an  undertaking  into 
the  class  of  public  utilities?  Mere,  at  the  very  outset, 
we  come  upon  a  fundamental  philosophic  or  theoretical 
divergence  of  views  which  runs  through  the  whole  com- 
plicated matter  of  public  utility  discussion  and  accounts 
for  the  inconclusiveness  of  the  arguments  usually  ad- 
vanced pro  and  con  in  the  various  phases  of  the  problem. 
In  the  most  extreme  sense  there  could  be  said  to  be  no 
individual  or  corporate  undertaking  of  whatever  char- 
acter which  is  not  affected  to  some  extent  with  a  public 
interest.  That  situation  is  simply  the  result  of  the  com- 
plicated and  interrelated  social  life  of  today.  Scarcely 
anyone,  of  course,  could  be  found  to  conclude  that  for 
that  reason  every  activity,  business  and  otherwise,  of 
the  individual  from  birth  to  death  should  be  controlled 
and  directed  by  the  government.  The  socialists,  it  is 
true,  are  convinced  that  all  means  of  economic  produc- 
tion and  distribution  are  so  vitally  affected  with  a  public 
interest  that  the  state  should  not  merely  supervise  them 
very  carefully,  but  should  itself  control  and  administer 
them.  Between  that  extreme  position  and  the  ultra  con- 
servative view  of  the  supporters  of  a  thoroughgoing 
laissez-faire  policy,  there  is  somewhere  a  mean  which 
has  today  the  support  of  the  great  majority  of  thinking 
people,  though  the  location  of  the  line  between  businesses 
that  are  affected  with  a  public  interest  sufficiently  to 
demand  government  action  and  those  that  are  not,  will 
probably  not  be  drawn  at  exactly  the  same  place  by  any 
two  persons.  In  order  to  crystallize  the  discussion  as  a 
practical  problem  of  municipal  administration,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  point  out  some  of  the  elements  that  have  so 
far  been  commonly  considered  as  affecting  a  business 
with  a  public  interest  to  the  extent  of  raising  a  govern- 


248  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

mental  problem.  So,  for  instance,  the  monopolistic  ele- 
ment in  a  business,  both  at  common  law  and  in  mod- 
ern legislation,  has  been  considered  as  introducing  the 
necessity  of  governmental  action.  Potential  dangers  to 
public  safety,  health,  or  morals,  in  a  particular  business 
have  affected  that  business  with  a  public  interest  to  the 
extent  that,  if  it  was  permitted  to  continue  at  all,  it  must 
be  under  regulation.  The  necessity  of  a  public  franchise 
or  permission  to  do  something  not  of  common  right, 
such  as  making  a  special  or  unusual  use  of  public  prop- 
erty, was  another  element  that  ear-marked  an  undertak- 
ing as  a  business  affected  with  a  public  interest 

These  are  still  more  or  less  general  definitions  which 
must  be  made  more  concrete  before  a  fruitful  discussion 
of  the  problem  can  occur.  Among  the  most  common  of 
businesses  affected  with  a  public  interest,  which  are  in- 
cluded under  the  name  of  public  utilities,  are  water- 
works, lighting  plants,  both  gas  and  electric,  transpor- 
tation, telephones,  slaughter  houses  and  markets,  ceme- 
teries, and  a  number  of  other  undertakings  which  are 
commonly  regarded  as  public  utilities  in  European  cities, 
but  which  are  not  yet  so  considered,  as  a  rule,  in  this 
country,  as,  for  instance,  theaters,  pawnshops,  restau- 
rants, etc.  The  term  public  utilities  is  restricted  in  dis- 
cussions in  this  country  usually  to  the  first  four  classes 
of  undertakings  mentioned,  and  it  will  be  noticed  of 
them  that  they  all  involve  a  special  use  of  the  city  streets 
for  pipes,  wires,  or  tracks,  and  must  consequently  obtain 
a  franchise  or  permission  to  make  this  special  use  of 
the  public  streets.  Furthermore,  the  right  of  eminent 
domain  or  condemnation  of  private  property  was  com- 
monly also  given  to  these  interests. 

At  the  time  when  franchises  were  first  granted  to  use 
the  streets  of  American  cities  for  purposes  such  as  these, 


PUBLIC   UTILITIES  249 

there  seemed  to  be  no  general  conviction  that  in  return 
for  these  privileges  by  the  public,  in  both  public  and 
private  property,  which  contained  the  possibilities  of 
tremendous  financial  benefits  for  the  grantees,  the  indi- 
viduals or  corporations  owed  any  obligations  to  the  pub- 
lic in  return.  It  is  true,  of  course,  that  in  many  cases 
the  persons  most  interested,  that  is,  the  citizens  of  the 
community  whose  streets  were  thus  turned  over  in  part 
to  private  interests,  had  nothing  to  say  in  the  matter, 
as  the  state  legislatures  exercised  the  right  to  make  such 
franchise  grants.  But  even  after  that  abuse  was  halted, 
and  cities  were  masters  of  their  own  affairs  in  this  re- 
gard, public  opinion  did  not  for  a  long  time  see  the  need 
or  desirability  of  securing,  in  any  way,  returns  to  the 
public  from  these  valuable  grants.  It  seems  to  have 
been  considered  that  the  individual  or  corporation  was 
doing  enough  of  a  service  to  the  public  by  offering  these 
facilities,  no  matter  in  what  manner  or  at  what  rates. 

Gradually,  however,  it  came  to  be  realized  that  a  water 
supply,  a  lighting  system,  and  transportation  facilities 
were  not  merely  conveniences  for  the  public  which  they 
could  purchase  from  the  companies  or  not,  as  they  chose, 
and  could  therefore  be  left  to  do  their  own  bargaining, 
but  that  they  were  necessities  under  conditions  of  mod- 
ern urban  life  and  that  the  owners  of  the  franchises  were 
in  the  position  of  being  able  to  charge,  for  a  necessity, 
practically  any  prices  they  wished,  within  very  large 
limits.  Then  it  began  to  be  appreciated  that  the  city,  in 
conferring  these  franchise  privileges  without  any  safe- 
guards in  them,  was  guilty  of  aiding  private  interests  to 
practice  extortion  on  the  public.  The  public  utilities 
were  naturally  interested  in  earning  the  greatest  returns, 
and  in  the  absence  of  compulsion,  subordinated  all  con- 
siderations of  rates  and  service  to  that  one  end.    In  the 


250  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

case  of  other  businesses,  even  those  deahng  in  the  abso- 
lute necessities  of  life,  such  as  food,  reasonable  rates  and 
service  were  more  or  less  automatically  secured  through 
the  application  of  the  principles  of  open  competition ; 
and  even,  the  English  Common  Law  from  an  early  date 
sought  to  conserve  that  safeguard  by  declaring  monopo- 
lies and  agreements  in  restraint  of  trade  contrary  to 
public  policy,  and  so  illegal  and  void.  But  even  this 
protection  for  the  public  was  lacking  in  the  case  of 
franchise  grants  for  public  utilities.  In  many  cases  the 
franchise  grants  themselves  were  exclusive  or  monopo- 
listic and  precluded  the  possibility  of  competition.  As 
if  still  further  to  exclude  the  possibility  of  any  whole- 
some restraining  influence  through  transferring  the  fran- 
chise to  another  corporation  upon  its  expiration,  in  the 
hope  of  getting  better  service  and  cheaper  rates,these  fran- 
chise grants  were  not  uncommonly  given  in  perpetuity. 

There  was  an  even  more  fundamental  factor  involved 
in  the  insufficiency  of  competition  as  a  measure  of  regu- 
lation in  the  interests  of  the  public  than  the  mere  granting 
of  monopoly  privileges,  for  that  really  only  confirmed, 
in  legal  form,  an  existing  economic  situation.  All  of 
these  undertakings,  as  well  as  many  of  the  others  that 
are  frequently  spoken  of  as  public  utilities,  are  what  are 
termed  natural  monopolies.  That  is,  they  are  under- 
takings which  in  their  very  nature  are  not  only  capable 
of  the  most  economic  and  efficient  management  when 
run  as  monopolies,  but  could,  for  other  reasons,  not  be 
thrown  open  to  competition  without  detriment  to  the 
public.  Waterworks,  for  instance,  afford  a  good  illus- 
tration of  a  natural  monopoly  of  this  nature.  To  have 
real  competition  in  the  furnishing  of  the  city's  water 
supply  there  would  have  to  be  two  or  more  waterworks. 
But  frequently  there  is  but  one  source  of  supply  avail- 


PUBLIC    UTILITIES  251 

able.  iMirthermorc,  the  expense  of  filtration  plants, 
pumping  stations,  and  service  pipes  is,  as  has  been  seen, 
considerable.  Even  if  water  could  be  gotten  from  two 
different  sources,  the  charges  which  a  waterworks  serv- 
ing one  hundred  thousand  people  would  have  to  make 
in  order  to  yield  a  profit  would  be  greater  than  those 
required  for  a  plant  serving  twice  that  many  persons, 
for  so  large  a  share  of  the  cost  of  waterworks  consists 
of  overhead  charges,  that  is,  interest  and  depreciation 
charges  on  the  original  investment.  Each  new  user 
can  be  served  more  economically  and  the  service  cost, 
therefore,  decreases  with  the  increase  in  the  number  of 
persons  served. 

But  the  money  item  is  not  the  most  serious  aspect  of 
the  situation,  though  it  shows  that  in  that  case  competi- 
tion would,  even  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances, 
increase  very  materially  the  per  capita  cost  of  service, 
though  perhaps  not  the  actual  price  charged  if  the 
monopolistic  company  was  charging  exorbitant  rates.  It 
does  show,  however,  that  so  far  as  reducing  rates  is 
concerned,  it  is  much  better  to  have  one  water  company 
under  proper  regulation  than  to  have  two  under  free 
competition.  The  more  serious  aspect  of  such  compe- 
tition lies,  however,  in  considerations  of  general  welfare. 
The  laying  of  water  pipes  in  the  streets  of  a  city  involves 
a  great  deal  of  inconvenience,  loss  of  time,  and  even 
financial  injury  both  to  the  pedestrians  and  vehicles 
using  the  streets  and  to  the  owners  of  abutting  property. 
A  certain  amount  of  this  inconvenience,  to  which  must 
be  added  the  necessity  of  frequent  repairs  and  the  dan- 
ger from  frozen  or  burst  mains,  is  obviously  a  condition 
of  getting  any  water  service.  But  a  multiplication  of 
this  inconvenience  two  or  more  fold  would  more  than 
offset  in  public  inconvenience  any  possible  benefits  that 


252  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

might  come  from  competition.  It  is  out  of  the  question, 
therefore,  to  rely  upon  competition  as  a  natural  and 
automatic  means  of  regulation  in  the  case  of  such  a 
utility  as  waterworks. 

The  same  situation  arises  in  connection  with  electric 
light  and  gas  plants,  each  of  which  requires  the  use  of 
space  above  or  below  the  streets  for  pipes  or  wires.  In 
the  case  of  street  railways,  the  situation  is  even  more 
apparent.  To  allow  competing  railways  to  lay  double 
sets  of  tracks  in  the  traffic  streets  is  everywhere  unde- 
sirable and,  in  many  cases,  impossible.  To  have  them 
run  in  different  parts  of  the  town  affords  no  competition 
and  to  have  them  parallel  each  other  on  different  streets 
is  usually  impracticable,  for  there  is  generally  one  street 
which  is  the  natural  artery  of  street  car  traffic  and 
would  therefore  prove  to  be  more  profitable.  One  public 
utility  in  the  case  of  which  competitive  activities  are 
perhaps  most  common  is  the  telephone  service.  In  many 
cities  there  are  two  or  even  three  telephone  companies, 
and  it  is  supposed  that  an  element  of  beneficial  natural 
regulation  is  thereby  attained.  The  same  objections 
exist,  however,  in  the  case  of  the  telephone  service,  that 
were  urged  in  regard  to  competitive  water  or  light  plants, 
though,  perhaps,  to  a  somewhat  lesser  extent.  Testi- 
mony from  cities  having  the  double  service  is  almost 
always  to  the  effect  that  the  system  is  unsatisfactory 
and  that  one  company  would  be  much  better.  Other 
factors  enter  in  to  prevent  the  play  of  free  competition 
even  under  these  conditions,  and  the  only  result  is  that 
the  public,  at  least  the  business  and  professional  public, 
is  put  to  the  expense  and  trouble  of  having  two  tele- 
phones in  use  instead  of  only  one. 

Competition  being  excluded  by  the  operation  of  natu- 
ral and  economic  conditions,  it  is  obvious  that  govern- 


PUBLIC    UTILITIES  253 

mental  regulation  becomes  necessary.  Briefly  stated,  the 
purpose  of  governmental  regulation  is  to  insure  to  the 
public  reasonable  service  at  reasonable  rates.  This  means 
that  the  public  service  corporations  are  under  obligations, 
in  return  for  their  franchise  rights,  to  render  satisfac- 
tory service  to  the  public  at  as  low  a  rate  as  is  possible 
with  good  management  and  reasonable  returns.  In  other 
words,  the  old  common-law  principle  has  now  come  to 
be  generally  accepted  that  public  utilities  operating  under 
a  franchise  are  not  legitimate  instruments  for  reaping 
enormous  profits,  but  are  to  be  limited  to  a  reasonable 
return  to  the  investors,  the  excess  going  into  better 
service  or  cheaper  rates.  As  a  statement  of  the  principle 
underlying  the  proper  relation  of  public  service  corpo- 
rations to  the  public,  that  proposition  would  seem  to 
receive  today  almost  universal  assent,  except,  of  course, 
from  the  holders  of  stock  in  such  undertakings.  As  the 
newer  policy  of  legislative  regulation,  it  has  received 
widespread  application  in  this  country,  with  the  appro- 
bation of  the  courts.  On  the  face  of  it,  that  simple  state- 
ment of  the  point  of  view  to  be  kept  in  mind  when 
attacking  the  problem  of  public  utility  regulation  would 
seem  to  promise  a  relatively  simple  task  in  its  applica- 
tion. Unfortunately,  however,  there  is  considerable  dif- 
ference of  opinion  as  to  the  best  means  of  putting  this 
generally  accepted  policy  into  effect  and  even  greater 
diversity  in  the  results  accomplished  when  it  has  been 
tried. 

There  are,  to  begin  with,  no  fixed  standards  for  deter- 
mining just  what  service  should  be  demanded.  Obvi- 
ously the  very  best  service  conceivable  irrespective  of 
cost  cannot  be  intended,  for  that  would  inevitably  raise 
the  cost,  and  cheapness  of  service  is  an  equally  important 
consideration.     The  relative  emphasis  to  be  placed  on 


254  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

the  two  mutually  interrelated  elements,  service  and  cost, 
is  therefore  one  fundamental  question  of  policy  that  has 
to  be  agreed  upon  before  a  scheme  of  regulation  can  be 
put  into  effect.  This  relationship  will  vary  somewhat 
in  the  different  utilities.  In  the  case  of  the  water  sup- 
ply, for  instance,  the  purity  of  the  water  is  such  a 
fundamental  consideration  from  the  point  of  view  of 
public  health,  that  a  safe  supply  of  drinking  water  must 
be  insisted  upon,  practically  irrespective  of  cost.  In  the 
case  of  the  transportation  utility,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
frequency  and  rapidity  of  the  service  are  not  such 
vitally  important  matters  that  they  should  be  carried  to 
extremes  from  the  point  of  view  of  cost.  It  may  be  very 
pleasant  to  have  a  street  car  service  every  minute,  but 
if  the  traffic  is  so  slight  that  only  a  few  people  ride  in 
each  car,  the  cost  per  person  is,  of  course,  greatly  in- 
creased. In  that  case  five-minute  service,  which  fills 
the  cars  without  overcrowding,  is  obviously  better  at  a 
given  rate  than  would  be  one-minute  service  at  a  higher 
rate.  The  shameful  history  of  public  utility  extortion 
and  robbery  has  had  the  unfortunate  consequence  of 
getting  the  public  into  the  frame  of  mind  that  any  and 
all  service  demands,  no  matter  how  extreme,  can  be  in- 
sisted upon,  without  affecting  the  cost  of  the  service,  a 
manifestly  ridiculous  and  unwise  attitude.  If  we  recog- 
nize rate  regulation  as  a  part  of  every  sensible  scheme 
of  public  utility  regulation,  then  both  common  sense  as 
well  as  legal  and  constitutional  principles  require  that 
beyond  a  certain  point  improvements  in  service  must 
mean  increase  in  rates. 

Even  more  difficult  than  tlie  determination  of  what 
constitutes  reasonable  service  is  the  question  of  reason- 
able rates.  To  say  that  reasonable  rates  mean  a  rea- 
sonable profit  from  the  undertaking  and  fixing  that  profit 


PUBLIC    UTILITIES  255 

at,  say,  six,  eight,  or  ten  per  cent,  does  not  settle  the 
matter  by  any  means.  What  charges  shall  be  allowed 
to  be  deducted  as  expenses,  and,  an  even  more  contro- 
versial question,  how  shall  the  value  of  the  plant  on 
which  the  six  per  cent  profit  shall  be  allowed  be  esti- 
mated? The  fair  valuation  of  the  capital  of  a  public 
service  corporation  is  indeed  the  first  step  in  rate  making. 
But  what  is  a  fair  basis  for  such  valuation?  It  is  gen- 
erally agreed  that  "water"  in  the  capitalization  should 
not  be  taken  into  consideration.  This  is  increased  value, 
resulting  not  from  increased  plant  or  improvements,  but 
merely  from  increased  earning  power  due  to  increased 
use  of  the  utility  and  covered  by  the  issue  of  new  stock 
to  stockholders  in  order  to  make  the  earnings  appear 
smaller  than  they  actually  are.  To  squeeze  the  water  out 
of  stock  held  very  largely  by  innocent  purchasers  at  a 
fair  price  is,  in  itself,  an  undertaking  fraught  with  great 
difficulty  and  the  likelihood  of  great  injustice  to  indi- 
viduals. 

But  even  to  determine  how  much  of  the  capitalization 
is  water  and  how  much  legitimate  value  is  very  difficult. 
To  take  the  value  of  the  physical  plant  as  a  basis  would 
seem  to  simplify  the  problem  and  leave  it  merely  a  matter 
of  engineering  computation.  But,  even  here,  the  funda- 
mental question  is  one  of  policy  again.  Shall  the  value 
of  the  land  be  taken  at  the  time  the  land  was  acquired 
or  at  current  market  rates?  If  the  land  has  increased 
in  value,  as  is  almost  without  exception  the  case,  shall 
the  stockholders  of  the  corporation  enjoy  the  increase 
in  the  shape  of  greater  dividends  or  additional  stock,  or 
shall  that  increase  not  be  taken  into  consideration? 
Other  individual  or  corporate  owners  of  land  are  per- 
mitted to  profit  by  the  increase  of  land  values  to  which 
they  have  not  contributed,  why  not  corporations  that  are 


256  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

so-called  public  utilities?     As  will  be  seen  in  another 
chapter,  the  question  of  securing  to  the  community  the 
so-called  unearned  increment,  that  is,  the  increase  in  land 
values,   due  to   social  as  distinguished   from   individual 
causes,  is  one  that  is  receiving  more  and  more  attention, 
not  only  as  a  measure  of  social  justice,  but  primarily  as 
an  aid  in  the  increasingly  difficult  problem  of  getting 
revenues  for  the  city.    Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the 
justice  or  expediency  of  that  plan  in  relation  to  private 
property  not  affected  with  a  public  interest,  there  is  a 
growing  tendency  to  think  that  in  the   case  of  public 
utiHties,   which   serve   the   public   under    franchises,   the 
social  values  in  the  increase  of  land  owned  by  the  utility 
should  accrue  to  the  public  in  the  way  of  cheaper  rates 
or  better  service.     In  the  case  of  existing  corporations, 
operating  under  franchises  which  make  no  mention  of 
the  question  of  increasing  land  values,  the  courts  are 
of  the  opinion  that  the  public  utility  corporation  is  en- 
titled  to  capitalize   tliat    increase.      The    courts    in   the 
United  States,  it  may  be  noted  at  this  point,  with  their 
exaggerated  view  of  the  sanctity  of  private  property  as 
opposed   to   public   interest,    developed   under   the    due 
process  clause  of  the  Federal  Constitution  and  similar 
clauses  in  the  state  constitutions,  are  one  of  the  most 
serious  obstacles  in  the  way  of  social  measures  of  all 
kinds  in  American  cities,  as  well  as  in  the  states  and  the 
Federal  Government  itself. 

Very  similar  to  the  question  raised  by  the  increase  of 
land  values  is  the  question  of  the  valuation  of  the  build- 
ings and  plant  of  the  company.  Shall  the  original  cost 
of  construction  be  taken  as  a  basis,  with  due  allowance 
for  depreciation,  or  shall  the  cost  of  reproduction  be 
taken  as  the  basis?  With  the  cost  of  building  steadily 
on  the  rise,  the  utilities  naturally  claim  that  their  physical 


PUBLIC    UTILITIES  257 

plant  has  a  real  value  equal  to  the  cost  of  reproduction, 
if  the  plant  has  been  kept  in  good  repair  and  is  as  well 
adapted  to  do  its  work  as  it  was  when  erected  or  as  a 
new  one  would  be.  The  cost  of  reproduction  is,  of 
course,  the  determining  factor  in  the  market  value  of 
all  private  physical  plants,  rather  than  the  cost  of  con- 
struction. On  the  other  hand,  suppose  the  plant  has 
deteriorated  in  value,  though  kept  in  good  repair,  through 
being  obsolete,  shall  the  original  cost  of  construction  be 
allowed  to  figure  in  the  capitalization,  or  shall  only  the 
diminished  value  be  taken  into  account?  Here,  again, 
the  answer  that  is  today  generally  accepted  is  the  one 
favorable  to  the  public.  The  public  service  corporation 
is  entitled  to  charge  only  such  rates  as  will  yield  a  rea- 
sonable return  on  the  real  value  of  the  capital  actually 
put  into  it  by  the  activities  of  the  corporation.  If  the 
value  of  the  physical  plant  has  increased  by  reason  of  a 
general  advance  in  prices  with  which,  of  course,  the  cor- 
poration had  nothing  to  do,  the  public  and  not  the  corpo- 
ration should  profit  thereby,  even  if,  on  tlie  other  hand, 
this  increase  would  mean  an  increase  in  the  market  price 
of  the  plant.  If,  however,  the  plant  has  deteriorated  by 
not  being  kept  in  repair  or  has  become  obsolete  by  rea- 
son of  new  inventions  or  processes,  the  diminution  in 
the  value  of  the  plant  represents  a  diminution  in  the 
value  of  the  capital,  which  must  be  reflected  in  the  profits 
that  are  allowed  the  company.  These  are  questions  on 
which  the  representatives  of  the  public  service  corpora- 
tions and  the  champions  of  the  public  are  directly  at 
loggerheads,  with  the  courts  again  favoring  the  conten- 
tions of  private  capital  even  when  granted  franchises 
for  the  purpose  of  serving  the  public.  There  are  many 
other  mooted  questions  in  the  matter  of  physical  valua- 
tion of  the  plants  with  regard  to  what  may  properly  be 


258  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

taken  into  consideration  and  capitalized  and  so  made  the 
basis  for  retaining  larger  earnings.  Some  of  them  are 
technical  matters  of  engineering  science,  but  most  of 
them  rest  in  the  last  analysis  upon  fundamental  dififer- 
ences  in  policy. 

Aside  from  the  physical  values  involved  in  the  capi- 
tal of  public  service  corporations,  there  are  intangible 
values  which  may  play  a  much  more  important  part  in 
the  earnings  and  so  in  the  market  value  of  the  shares 
of  stock.  These  intangible  values,  that  is,  everything 
not  represented  by  the  physical  value,  are  commonly 
spoken  of  as  the  water  in  the  stock,  for  they  represent 
no  actual  investment  of  money  or  labor.  Part  of  this 
intangible  value  is  commonly  ascribed  to  the  "goodwill" 
of  the  business,  which  is  a  very  important  item  in  the 
selling  value  of  any  private  business,  consisting  of  the 
trade  or  custom  of  the  business  as  a  result  of  its  period 
of  activity  and  good  reputation.  This  goodwill,  it  is 
claimed,  constitutes  an  important  part  of  the  value  of  a 
public  service  corporation  as  a  going  concern  and  should 
therefore  be  taken  into  account.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  argued  that  the  goodwill  of  a  business  is  an  element 
of  marketable  value  only  if  the  business  is  competitive 
and  purchasable,  that  is,  if  a  private  company  or  cor- 
poration dissolves  without  turning  its  business  over  to 
a  successor,  the  goodwill  of  the  company  is  absolutely 
without  value  so  far  as  the  stockholders  are  concerned. 
Now  public  service  corporations  enjoying  franchises 
from  the  city  are  not  in  the  position  of  the  private 
corporations,  for  two  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  dealing 
as  they  do  with  monopolies  in  what  are  practically  neces- 
sities, their  business  is  very  little  afifected  by  elements 
of  goodwill.  People  must  have  water,  and  if  there  is 
only  one  water  company  and  the  city  does  not  see  that 


PUBLIC    UTILITIES  259 

it  furnishes  good  water  in  plenty  at  cheap  rates,  the 
people  simply  have  to  buy  poor  water  in  inadequate 
amounts  at  high  rates.  The  business  goes  on  much  the 
same,  no  matter  how  unsatisfactory  the  service  is.  In 
private  business,  on  the  other  hand,  where  the  element 
of  competition  enters  in,  the  goodwill  of  the  business 
consists  largely  in  giving  better  service  at  cheaper  rates 
than  do  competing  firms.  A  firm  that  gives  poor  service 
and  charges  high  rates  in  a  private  competitive  business 
has  no  goodwill  to  capitalize  and  sell. 

In  the  second  place,  the  public  service  corporation  is 
not  potentially  in  the  market  as  a  purchasable  concern. 
The  franchise  is  issued  to  a  particular  corporation  and 
that  corporation  is  not  in  a  position  to  sell  out  to  any 
other  concern.  Consequently,  even  if  there  were  a  good- 
will element  in  the  business,  it  has  no  market  value 
simply  because  there  is  no  market.  Consequently,  there 
seems  to  be  no  basis  for  assigning  any  capital  value  to 
the  goodwill  of  a  public  service  corporation,  at  least  in 
the  case  of  monopolistic  undertakings  operating  under 
a  franchise,  which  is  the  character  of  all  the  services 
here  under  consideration.  This,  too,  is  an  element  which 
the  courts  are  inclined  to  permit  being  added  to  the 
capital  value. 

A  final  element  in  the  capitalization  of  public  service 
corporations,  which  is  the  subject  of  much  dispute,  is  the 
so-called  franchise  value,  that  is,  the  money  value  of 
the  right  to  do  business  in,  over,  or  under  the  streets 
oT  the  city,  the  principal  element  of  which  is,  of  course, 
the  monopoly  privilege.  In  former  times,  when  the  mat- 
ter of  service  and  rates  of  public  utility  companies  was 
still  a  matter  of  unconcern  to  cities,  the  value  of  the 
franchise  lay  in  the  exclusive  right  to  practice  extor- 
tion upon  the  public  without  let  or  hindrance.    The  value 


26o  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

of  such  a  franchise  was,  of  course,  measured  by  the 
possibihties  of  financial  returns  from  the  utiHty,  and 
the  enormous  value  of  such  franchises  can  best  be  judged 
by  the  large  sums  spent  by  the  promoters  in  buying  lib- 
eral franchise  grants  which  soon  reimbursed  their  owners 
many  fold  for  the  large  outlays  involved  in  buying  official 
favor. 

The  days  of  non-regulation  in  public  utility  matters  are 
fortunately  over,  and  the  question  naturally  arises :  What 
actual  money  value  have  franchises,  as  such,  under  a  sys- 
tem of  insuring  reasonable  service  at  reasonable  rates? 
If  public  policy  demands  that  public  service  corporations 
be  prevented  from  making  more  than  a  reasonable  profit 
on  their  actual  investment,  then,  of  course,  the  chief 
element  of  value  in  the  old  franchises  is  destroyed. 
What  remains  represents,  then,  merely  the  value  of  the 
permission  to  engage  in  a  certain  business  under  strict 
conditions  intended  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  more 
than  reasonable  profits.  The  public  utility  corporation 
is,  therefore,  no  better  investment  than  any  private  un- 
dertaking, viewed  from  the  point  of  view  of  risk  and 
profits.  The  chief  value  of  the  franchise  lies  in  the 
safeguard  against  unfair  or  ruinous  competition  as  long 
as  satisfactory  service  is  rendered  at  reasonable  rates. 
So  far  as  that  protection  still  has  a  real  money  value, 
the  question  arises :  Is  that  a  legitimate  part  of  the  capi- 
tal of  the  company  which  can  be  taken  into  account  in 
evaluating  the  corporation?  If  the  company  paid  for 
the  franchise  in  the  first  place,  under  a  legal  agreement 
with  the  city,  then  the  franchise  represents  a  capital 
investment  of  just  that  much  and  is  a  legitimate  element 
in  the  capital  value.  But  if  the  city  did  not  sell  the 
franchise  privilege  to  the  corporation,  then  the  franchise 
value  was  conferred  by  the  public  for  the  purpose  of 


PUBLIC    UTILITIES  261 

permitting  the  service  to  be  undertaken,  and  the  public, 
not  the  corporation,  is  the  equitable  owner  of  that  fran- 
chise. It  should  obviously,  then,  not  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration in  estimating  the  value  of  the  corporate  capital 
in  that  case. 

Having  pointed  out  some  of  the  elements  that  enter 
into  the  policy  side  of  public  utility  regulation,  so  to 
speak,  the  next  question  to  be  considered  is  how  the 
principles  enunciated  above  can  be  applied  in  practice  to 
the  public  utility  problem.  This  problem  has  two  dis- 
tinct aspects  today  which  are  capable  of  and  require 
quite  different  treatment.  The  one  aspect  of  the  prob- 
lem relates  to  the  corporations  that  are  already  doing 
business  under  franchises  granted  in  the  dark  ages,  so 
to  speak;  the  other  relates  to  corporations  that  are  to 
be  granted  franchises  in  the  future.  In  the  former  case 
the  sins  of  the  fathers  are  being  largely  visited  upon  the 
children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generations,  owing  to 
the  American  doctrine  that  a  corporate  franchise  con- 
tained in  a  charter  is  a  contract,  the  impairment  of  the 
obligation  of  which  is  forbidden  both  by  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution and  by  state  constitutions  as  well.  The  remedy 
in  such  cases  is  more  difficult  to  apply  and  will  ordi- 
narily not  be  so  effective,  though  fortunately  several 
fairly  powerful  weapons  are  left  to  the  public  even  in 
such  cases,  as  will  be  seen  a  little  later. 

The  more  hopeful  situation,  by  far,  exists  where  old 
franchises  are  about  to  expire  and  must  be  renewed,  or 
where  new  franchises  are  desired.  There  the  franchise- 
granting  power  is  in  a  position  to  bargain  eft"ectively  with 
the  franchise  seekers  and  to  embody  in  the  franchise  the 
terms  and  conditions  necessary  to  insure  that  the  public 
utility  will  be  operated  with  all  due  regard  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  public  as  well  as  those  of  the  corporation. 
18 


262  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

In  this  connection  it  seems  desirable  to  point  out  a  con- 
sideration which  would  seem  to  be  so  self-evident  as  to 
require  no  comment,  but  which,  owing  to  the  general 
attitude  of  a  large  part  of  the  general  public  on  these 
matters  today,  is  likely  to  be  wholly  overlooked.  Public 
utilities  are,  as  has  been  seen,  practically  public  necessi- 
ties under  modern  municipal  conditions.  They  are,  how- 
ever, also  private  undertakings  for  profit.  That  profit, 
it  is  true,  should  not  be  allowed  to  be  excessive,  but  if  it 
is  not  allowed  to  be  reasonable,  the  public  utility  will  no 
longer  prove  an  attractive  field  for  the  investment  of 
capital.  Even  if  there  were  no  constitutional  restrictions 
in  the  United  States  protecting  existing  corporations 
from  regulation  which  is  in  efifect  confiscatory  by  deny- 
ing the  possibility  of  reasonable  returns,  it  is  obvious 
that,  at  a  given  point,  the  imposition  of  additional  burdens 
in  the  shape  of  more  expensive  service  and  lower  rates 
in  favor  of  the  public  will  simply  result  in  the  suspension 
of  operations  by  the  corporation.  Quite  apart  from  con- 
siderations of  fairness  to  the  holders  of  corporate  se- 
curities, the  imposition  of  too  burdensome  conditions 
would,  if  carried  to  extremes,  defeat  its  very  purpose 
by  making  it  impossible  for  the  corporation  to  continue 
its  business,  there  being  obviously  no  way  of  compelling 
a  corporation  to  continue  its  business  at  a  loss. 

With  regard  to  existing  corporations,  such  extremities 
are  more  or  less  prevented  by  the  constitutional  safe- 
guards of  the  "due  process"  and  "impairment  of  the  obli- 
gation of  a  contract"  clauses.  But,  with  regard  to  future 
grants  of  franchises,  where  the  power  of  the  franchise- 
granting  authority  is  not  circumscribed  in  this  way,  these 
practical  considerations  come  into  play.  A  policy  of 
securing  the  interests  of  the  public  without  any  regard 
to  the  fair  demands  of  the  corporations  will  again  de- 


PUBLIC    UTILITIES  263 

feat  its  own  purpose,  in  that  capital  will  not  be  attracted 
to  undertakings  of  such  a  doubtful  nature.  As  a  result, 
the  city  and  its  citizens  will  suffer  by  being  deprived  of 
a  convenience,  amounting  almost  to  a  necessity.  The 
shortsightedness  of  such  a  policy  is  apparent,  and  yet 
many  enthusiastic  champions  of  the  public  against  the 
corporations  seem  to  proceed  on  the  theory  that  any  and 
all  conditions  in  favor  of  the  public  are  fair  and  desirable 
and  that  the  corporations  can  and  will  shoulder  ail  such 
conditions  without  limit.  If  public  utility  undertakings 
are  allowed  to  pay  a  reasonable  return  to  investors  they 
will  always  attract  sufficient  capital,  for  they  represent 
an  unusually  safe  investment  under  normal  conditions, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  they  are  necessities  for  the  public 
and  are  protected  against  unfair  and  ruinous  competi- 
tion. But  if  a  reasonable  return  is  made  impossible  or 
even  improbable,  owing  to  the  high  standard  of  service 
required  and  the  low  rates  insisted  upon,  then  private 
capital  will  simply  turn  to  other  channels,  and  the  public, 
instead  of  being  well  served,  will  not  be  served  at  all, 
unless  the  city  itself  undertakes  the  establishment  and 
operation  of  all  these  services,  a  possibility  which  will 
be  discussed  somewhat  later. 

The  most  satisfactory  kind  of  regulation  being  that 
which  can  be  established  through  the  franchise  condi- 
tions themselves,  this  method  will  first  be  considered. 
The  question  therefore  arises  as  to  what  should  be  the 
terms  of  a  public  utility  franchise  which  will  insure 
proper  protection  both  to  the  public  and  to  the  investors. 
First  in  importance,  perhaps,  is  the  determination  of  the 
length  of  time  for  which  such  franchises  shall  run. 
Earlier  franchises,  as  has  been  seen,  were  sometimes 
granted  by  legislatures  in  perpetuity.  Though  such  fran- 
chise grants  were  virtually  a  treasonable  betrayal  of  the 


264  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

property  of  the  public  by  their  temporarily  chosen  rep- 
resentatives into  the  hands  of  the  corporations  and 
should  have  been  declared  contrary  to  all  public  policy 
and  void,  the  courts  upheld  such  grants  and  protected 
the  grantees  in  their  dangerous  and  harmful  position. 
The  obvious  folly  of  permitting  special  rights  in  public 
property  to  be  granted  away  for  all  time  subsequently 
led  to  the  prohibition,  in  many  constitutions,  of  perpetual 
franchises,  though  there  are  still  instances  of  such  fran- 
chises being  exercised.  The  best  method  of  dealing  with 
this  consequence  of  former  folly  will  be  considered  in 
connection  with  the  problem  of  controlling  existing  cor- 
porations, but  there  is  today  no  difference  of  opinion  on 
the  utter  indefensibility  of  perpetual  franchises. 

Where  franchises  were  not  granted  in  perpetuity  they 
were  generally  fixed  for  a  definite  period  of  years,  not 
infrequently  for  such  long  terms  as  fifty  or  a  hundred 
years  and  sometimes  for  so  long  a  term  as  to  be  prac- 
tically grants  in  perpetuity.  Excessively  long-term  peri- 
ods are  objectionable  in  the  same  way,  though  to  a  lesser 
degree,  as  are  perpetual  franchises.  Fifty  years  is  so 
long  a  period,  especially  in  view  of  the  rapid  develop- 
ment in  all  the  processes  involved  in  the  operation  of 
public  utilities,  that  conditions  that  may  have  represented 
the  best  that  was  known  at  the  time  the  franchise  was 
granted  may  at  the  end  of  a  fifty-year  period  be  so 
obsolete  or  inadequate  as  to  be  almost  useless  under  the 
new  conditions. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  public,  therefore,  the 
theoretically  perfect  franchise  would  run  from  year  to 
year  only,  with  the  possibility  of  revising  its  terms  at 
the  end  of  each  twelve  months.  It  is  obvious,  however, 
that  no  undertaking  requiring  the  investment  of  capital 
could  be  financed  under  such  terms  at  all.    It  would  be 


PUBLIC   UTILITIES  265 

necessary  to  lengthen  the  period  much  beyond  that  point 
before  there  would  be  any  appeal  to  private  capital.  The 
longer  the  franchise  period  the  more  attractive  the  propo- 
sition to  capital,  showing  that  the  interests  of  the  public 
are  in  danger  both  from  too  short  and  too  long  a  fran- 
chise period.  Experience  seems  to  show  that  for  most 
undertakings  a  twenty-year  term  is  sufficient  to  prove 
attractive  without  being  too  long  from  the  point  of  view 
of  desirable  changes.  Different  kinds  of  utilities  present 
somewhat  different  conditions  in  this  regard,  depending 
on  such  factors  as  the  ratio  between  cost  of  construction 
and  operating  expenses,  elements  of  depreciation,  avail- 
ability of  plant  for  other  uses  at  the  end  of  the  franchise 
term,  etc.  But  it  is  generally  agreed  that  a  franchise 
should  not  run  for  more  than  twenty-five  years,  or  thirty 
years  at  the  outside,  if  the  public  is  to  be  adequately 
protected. 

The  definite  term  franchise  has,  however,  an  inherent 
defect,  apart  from  the  dangers  of  too  long  and  too 
short  periods.  Whatever  the  term  of  the  franchise  may 
be,  its  expiration  will  be  certain  to  come  sooner  or  later. 
When  that  expiration  comes  sufficiently  near  so  that  the 
utility  can  run  along  until  the  end  of  that  time  without 
making  allowance  for  repairs,  additions,  and  improve- 
ments, it  is  obvious  that  there  will  be  a  strong  temptation 
for  the  corporation  to  save  that  amount  of  money  instead 
of  putting  it  into  a  plant  which,  unless  there  is  some 
guarantee  of  the  franchise  being  renewed,  will  in  a  few 
years  be  comparatively  worthless.  The  public,  therefore, 
is  again  the  loser  in  the  poor  quality  of  the  service  it 
obtains  toward  the  end  of  a  definite  franchise  term. 

In  order  to  meet  this  objection  to  the  definite  term,  as 
well  as  to  insure  to  the  city  a  more  continuing  character 
of  control,  the  indeterminate  franchise  has  come  into  use. 


266  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

Under  this  kind  of  a  franchise  the  corporation  is  granted 
the  right  to  use  the  streets  for  its  purposes  without  any- 
definite  time  being  stated.  But  this  form  differs  radically 
from  the  perpetual  franchise  in  that  there  is  reserved 
to  the  city  the  right  to  terminate  the  franchise  by  taking 
over,  at  the  end  of  any  one  of  a  sequence  of  definitely 
stated  periods,  the  business  of  the  corporation  at  a  fair 
value.  For  instance,  the  franchise  may  state  that  at  the 
end  of  the  first  ten  years,  and  every  five  years  thereafter, 
the  city  may  terminate  the  franchise  by  purchasing,  at  a 
fair  price  the  equipment  of  the  corporation.  In  this  way 
the  stockholders  of  the  corporation  are  assured  of  an 
investment  for  at  least  ten  years,  with  the  alternative 
thereafter  of  either  receiving  a  fair  price  for  their  stock, 
which  is,  of  course,  not  the  case  where  a  definite  term 
franchise  expires  and  is  not  renewed,  or  of  having  the 
investment  continue  as  it  stands  for  another  five  years. 
Both  the  city  and  the  corporation  are  therefore  protected 
under  such  an  agreement,  provided — and  there  lies  the 
main  difficulty  and  danger — some  satisfactory  scheme  is 
secured  for  determining  the  price  at  which  the  city  shall 
purchase  the  property  of  the  corporation.  The  various 
elements  that  enter  into  a  fair  valuation  of  the  property 
of  such  a  corporation  have  already  been  briefly  consid- 
ered above,  but  as  they  are  matters  that  must  be  care- 
fully determined  in  the  conditions  of  the  franchise  grant 
itself,  they  will  be  enumerated  again  in  pointing  out 
those  conditions  here.  Suffice  it  to  say,  at  this  place,  that 
an  impartial  tribunal  of  experts  should  be  provided  to 
make  a  valuation  of  the  corporate  property  along  the 
lines  laid  down  in  the  franchise  grant. 

Next  to  the  matter  of  the  term  of  the  franchise  comes 
the  question  of  service.  It  is  highly  desirable  that  the 
franchise  contain  very  detailed  provisions  as  to  the  service 


PUBLIC    UTILITIES  267 

requirements.  As  has  been  suggested  before,  the  empha- 
sis as  regards  the  matter  of  service  will  not  be  placed 
on  the  same  points  in  the  different  services,  but  clear 
and  precise  requirements  as  to  service  for  each  kind  of 
utility  should  constitute  an  important  part  of  the  fran- 
chise grant.  Equally  important,  however,  with  the  matter 
of  initial  requirements  as  to  service  should  be  the  con- 
tinuing power  of  the  city  to  change  those  requirements  to 
meet  new  inventions  and  developments  and  other  changed 
conditions  at  any  time  within  the  period  of  the  franchise. 
If  it  be  kept  in  mind  that  increases  in  capital  outlay  or 
in  operating  expenses  for  such  improvements  in  service 
will,  under  a  fair  system  of  rate  regulation,  be  reflected 
in  increased  rates,  there  is  no  hardship  in  holding  the 
corporation  up  to  the  highest  standard  of  service  desired 
by  the  public.  All  such  matters  as  improved  devices,  ex- 
tensions of  service,  etc.,  will  then  be  settled  solely  on  the 
question  of  whether  such  an  improvement  involving  addi- 
tional expense  is  worth  enough  to  the  public  to  stand 
an  increase  in  the  price  of  service. 

Next  to  service,  and  most  intimately  connected  with 
it  from  every  point  of  view,  is  the  question  of  rates. 
If,  as  stated  above,  the  rates  that  a  public  utility  should 
be  allowed  to  charge  are  such  as  will  yield  a  reasonable 
net  profit  on  the  money  fairly  invested,  under  the  con- 
ditions of  service  required,  the  determination  of  the  value 
of  the  undertaking  becomes  of  the  utmost  importance  for 
this  purpose,  as  well  as  for  the  purpose  of  determining 
what  price  the  city  shall  pay  for  the  plant  of  a  private 
corporation  which  it  may  for  any  reason  wish  to  take 
over  under  power  reserved  in  the  franchise.  The  fran- 
chise itself  should,  therefore,  stipulate  the  elements  that 
may  properly  be  considered  as  part  of  the  capital  of  the 
corporation,  and  should  prescribe  under  what  conditions 


268  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

shares  of  stock  shall  be  issued  and  for  what  purposes 
and  in  what  amounts  money  may  be  borrowed  by  the 
issue  of  bonds.  For  such  purpose  it  is,  of  course,  neces- 
sary that  the  city,  or  whatever  public  authority  is  going 
to  look  after  the  enforcement  of  the  franchise  conditions, 
be  continuously  informed  about  all  financial  transactions 
of  the  corporation.  In  the  same  way  the  proper  finan- 
cial management  of  the  corporation  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  retirement  of  its  obligations,  maintenance, 
repair  and  improvement  funds,  etc.,  becomes  of  great 
importance,  and  the  franchise  should  lay  down  the  finan- 
cial principles  which  the  corporation  must  observe.  For 
this  purpose  it  is  necessary  that  the  corporations  keep  the 
records  of  their  financial  transactions  in  a  manner  pre- 
scribed by  the  regulating  authority. 

One  rather  controverted  subject  connected  with  the 
matter  of  rates,  is  the  question  of  financial  returns  to 
the  city  from  the  corporation.  There  is,  of  course,  no 
reason  why  the  physical  property  of  the  corporation 
should  not  pay  taxes  into  the  city  treasury  just  like  any 
other  persons  or  corporation,  for  that  element  of  expense 
is  legitimately  figured  in  the  operating  expenses  of  the 
company.  But  it  is  a  not  uncommon  practice  to  assess 
a  charge  against  the  company  for  its  franchise.  The  com- 
mon attitude  of  the  public  is  that,  as  the  company  enjoys 
special  rights  in  the  city's  streets  which  belong  to  the 
public,  it  should  pay  back  to  the  public,  in  the  shape  of 
special  taxes,  financial  returns.  Of  course,  such  a  fran- 
chise tax  amounts  merely  to  another  item  of  expense 
which  will  be  reflected  in  higher  rates.  The  question, 
therefore,  resolves  itself  into  this :  shall  the  users  of  the 
utilities,  who  pay  the  same  prices  for  service  without  any 
regard  to  their  financial  ability,  be  burdened  by  paying 
a  special  tax,  the  proceeds  of  which  would  otherwise  be 


PUBLIC   UTILITIES  269 

made  up  by  general  taxes,  which  are  theoretically,  at 
least,  distributed  according  to  ability  to  pay  ?  This  is  a 
very  fundamental  question  of  policy  which  arises  in  a 
more  acute  form  in  connection  with  the  question  of  rates, 
when  the  public  utility  is  owned  and  operated  by  the  city, 
and  will  be  considered  more  fully  there. 

The  franchise  must  determine  the  rates  that  may  be 
charged  on  the  basis  of  the  legitimate  capital  invested, 
and  the  legitimate  operating  expenses  under  stipulated 
conditions  of  service.  Since  operating  expenses  are  sub- 
ject to  considerable  variations,  owing  to  fluctuations  in 
the  cost  of  material  and  of  labor,  and  especially  since 
standards  of  service  should  be  readily  flexible  in  the  in- 
terest of  introducing  improvements,  it  follows  that  the 
rates  determined  in  the  franchise  should  be  subject  to 
variation  at  relatively  frequent  intervals.  Always,  with 
the  fundamental  requirement  of  reasonable  returns  in 
view,  the  city  should  have  the  power  to  raise  or  lower  the 
rates  of  service  of  the  corporation  in  keeping  with  the 
variations  in  the  factors  noted  above.  To  encourage 
administrative  efficiency  in  the  management  of  the  cor- 
poration, the  city  might,  with  profit,  permit  the  corpora- 
tion to  earn  a  somewhat  higher  profit  if  it  can  reduce 
the  rates  without  diminishing  the  quality  of  the  service 
rendered. 

Aside  from  the  fundamental  questions  of  rates  and 
service,  there  are  still  other  considerations  that  ought 
to  find  a  place  in  a  modern  franchise,  according  to  a 
fairly  widespread  and  increasingly  prevalent  opinion. 
Not  only  should  the  city  be  interested  in  protecting  that 
portion  of  the  public  which  uses  the  utilities,  by  insisting 
on  good  service  and  cheap  rates,  but  it  should  also  be 
concerned  with  that  considerable  portion  of  its  public 
which  is  used  by  the  corporation,  that  is  the  body  of  em- 


270  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

ployees.  If  the  city  is  an  employer  of  labor,  it  is  gen- 
erally conceded  that  it  should  provide  for  its  employees 
those  conditions  of  hours  of  labor  and  wages  which  an 
awakened  public  conscience  recognizes  as  the  minima  of 
decent  existence.  The  city  cannot,  it  is  true,  influence 
these  conditions  of  employment  very  greatly  in  the  case 
of  private  employments,  but  why  should  it  not  use  its 
power  of  imposing  franchise  conditions  upon  public 
utilities  to  insist  that  there,  also,  modern  conceptions  of 
the  rights  of  labor  be  put  into  effect?  The  conclusion 
would  seem  to  be  inevitable  that  the  city  should  do  all 
in  its  power  to  aid  in  the  cause  of  social  ameMoration, 
since  it  is  its  own  population  which  is  suffering  from 
the  undesirable  conditions.  There  are  today  many  per- 
sons who  are  loud  in  their  demand  for  using  the  fran- 
chise-granting power  for  this  purpose. 

What  is  equally  inevitable,  but  not  so  generally  appre- 
ciated by  those  who  are  clamoring  most  loudly  for  that 
means  of  improving  the  condition  of  the  laboring  classes, 
is  that  shorter  hours  of  labor  and  larger  pay  mean  in- 
creased operating  expenses,  which  must  be  met  by  the 
consuming  public  in  higher  rates.  In  their  laudable  desire 
to  impose  a  humanitarian  duty  upon  a  soulless  corpora- 
tion, these  enthusiasts  sometimes  forget  that  a  good  part 
of  the  public  which  has  to  bear  increased  prices  in  pub- 
lic utility  service  as  a  result  of  such  measures,  itself 
belongs  in  the  laboring  class,  and  bears  an  unduly  bur- 
densome share  of  the  cost  of  operation  because  public 
utility  service  is  paid  for  at  the  same  rate  by  all  alike, 
not  according  to  financial  ability  to  pay. 

One  other  concern  must  be  kept  in  mind  in  framing 
a  public  utility  franchise  grant.  Since  the  real  point  of 
contact  between  the  public  utility  and  the  public  occurs 
through  the  special  rights  in  the  streets  accorded  to  the 


PUBLIC   UTILITIES  271 

former  by  the  latter,  it  is  very  important  that  those  pub- 
lic rights  in  the  streets  be  also  safeguarded.  Justice  and 
expediency  demand  that  the  use  made  of  the  public  streets 
by  the  public  service  corporations  should  interfere  as 
little  as  possible  with  the  ordinary  use  of  the  streets  by 
the  public  in  general.  The  tearing  up  of  streets  for 
water  mains,  sewers,  gas  pipes,  etc.,  always  involves  a 
serious  interference  with  the  use  of  the  streets  for  traf- 
fic purposes.  It  is  desirable,  therefore,  that  such  tear- 
ing up  occur  as  seldom  as  possible  and  with  as  little  in- 
terruption of  traffic  as  possible.  The  laying  of  such 
pipes  in  alleys  instead  of  streets  is  much  more  advan- 
tageous from  the  point  of  view  of  the  public  and  should 
be  required  even  if  it  is  somewhat  more  inconvenient 
or  expensive  to  the  corporation  in  certain  cases.  As  far 
as  possible,  everything  that  has  to  be  done  below  the  sur- 
face of  the  street  should  be  done  at  one  time,  before 
paving  has  been  laid  or  when  it  is  being  repaired.  These 
various  utilities  should,  for  the  same  reason,  be  required 
to  use  one  tunnel  whenever  practicable,  convenient  en- 
trance to  which  can  be  had  from  openings  in  the  street 
without  tearing  up  the  surface.  Cooperation  between 
the  utilities  in  such  matters  must  be  imposed  by  the 
franchise  conditions  if  it  is  to  be  adequately  insured. 
In  the  same  way,  the  underground  laying  of  telephone  and 
electric-current  wires,  both  for  lighting  and  for  the  street 
railways,  is  demanded  by  considerations  of  public  safety 
and  of  city  beautification  and  should  be  inserted  in  the 
franchise  requirements.  Traffic  experts  are  not  agreed 
as  to  the  relative  advantages  of  permanent  tracks  and 
trackless  means  of  transportation  in  the  city  streets,  but 
the  city  should  secure  for  itself  the  right  to  insist  that 
whichever  plan  of  street  transportation  proves  to  be  the 
best  shall  be  put  into  effect  by  the  corporation.    In  other 


272  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS 

words,  the  city  must  insure  to  itself  a  continuing  right 
over  its  own  streets,  the  convenience  of  the  pubhc  utility 
corporation  being  secondary  to  that  of  the  public  at 
large,  always  remembering,  of  course,  that  any  change 
demanded  by  the  city  which  involves  greater  ex- 
penses, either  in  construction  or  operation,  will  have 
to  be  reflected  in  increased  charges  to  the  consuming 
public. 

So  far,  there  has  been  considered  the  relatively  simple 
case  of  a  corporation  desiring  a  franchise  right  in  the 
streets  and  being  therefore  compelled  to  accept  the  terms 
the  city  considers  proper  to  impose,  or  else  to  give  up  its 
proposed  undertaking.  This  is  coming  to  be  more  and 
more  the  normal  case,  fortunately  for  the  progress  of 
public  regulation.  New  utilities  are  being  developed  and 
old  franchises  are  expiring  each  year.  At  any  given  time, 
however,  the  majority  of  utilities  are  operating  under 
existing  franchises,  running  for  a  greater  or  less  number 
of  years,  and  all  these  franchises,  even  most  of  the  very 
recent  ones,  were  granted  without  full  understanding  of, 
or  attention  to,  the  considerations  of  public  protection 
enumerated  above.  The  real  practical  difficulty  of  regu- 
lation today  exists,  therefore,  with  regard  to  corpora- 
tions doing  business  under  an  existing  franchise.  It 
has  already  been  pointed  out  that  the  courts  have  pro- 
tected charters  and  franchises,  as  contracts,  and  that  in 
many  cases  the  corruption  or  folly  of  former  grants  has 
saddled  the  public  with  an  incubus  that  cannot  be  wholly 
thrown  off  until  the  franchise  term  expires.  But  even 
such  cases,  though  most  unfortunate,  are  not  altogether 
hopeless,  and  some  measures  of  redress  and  protection 
exist  in  nearly  all  cases,  if  the  city  is  energetic  enough 
to  employ  them.  At  common  law,  as  has  been  seen, 
there  is  an  implied  obligation  on  the  part  of  public  service 


PUBLIC   UTILITIES  273 

companies  to  render  reasonable  service  at  reasonable 
rates.  The  public  authorities  may,  therefore,  pass  regu- 
lations with  regard  to  service  and  rates  up  to  the  point 
that  the  courts  will  uphold  them  as  reasonable,  which 
are  valid,  even  though  the  original  franchise  grant  said 
nothing  about  rates  or  service.  Furthermore,  the  police 
power  of  the  government,  whether  state  or  city,  as  the 
case  may  be,  that  is,  the  power  to  regulate  all  under- 
takings in  the  interests  of  public  safety,  health  and 
morals,  is  exercisable  with  regard  to  public  service  cor- 
porations without  regard  to  franchise  grants,  as  it  is 
a  theory  of  our  constitutional  law  that  no  governmental 
authority  can  legally  and  effectively  grant  away  its  police 
power.  At  the  same  time,  while  the  general  police  power 
and  the  special  power  to  insist  upon  reasonable  rates  and 
service  on  the  part  of  the  public  utilities  give  the  city,  in 
many  cases,  a  basis  for  improving  conditions  very  mate- 
rially in  the  matter  of  the  relations  and  attitude  of  the 
corporations  to  the  public,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
regulation  cannot  be  nearly  so  effective  and  comprehen- 
sive where  the  city's  hands  have  been  tied,  in  this  way, 
by  contractual  obligations. 

It  is,  therefore,  little  short  of  criminal  to  renew  an 
existing  franchise  or  to  grant  a  new  one  and  to  rely  upon 
this  general,  indefinite,  and  unsatisfactory  method  of  con- 
trol instead  of  putting  the  necessary  provisions  in  clear 
and  unmistakable  language  into  the  franchise.  All  ques- 
tions as  to  the  fair  capital  value  of  the  plant,  which,  as 
has  been  said  again  and  again,  are  at  the  basis  of  all  rate 
regulation,  on  which  there  is  a  possible  and  actual  differ- 
ence of  opinion,  can  be  settled  beyond  pcradventure  of  a 
doubt  in  a  new  franchise  grant  in  favor  of  the  public, 
while  past  investments  are  more  likely  to  be  looked  at  by 
the  courts,  who  are  the  final  arbiters  in  cases  of  con- 


274  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

flict,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  vested  interests  than 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  public. 

Whether  the  regulation  of  public  utilities  is  to  occur 
by  means  of  properly  worded  franchises  in  future  grants 
or  under  the  general  principle  of  law  applicable  to  pub- 
lic utility  corporations,  it  must  be  clearly  understood  that 
the  actual  work  of  regulation  involves  continuous  investi- 
gation and  supervision  of  a  most  exacting  kind.  The 
task  of  drawing  up  a  model  franchise  for  acceptance  by 
a  corporation  is  but  the  initial  step  in  regulation,  and  the 
easiest  one.  The  task  of  seeing  that  the  conditions  of 
the  franchise  are  lived  up  to  and  that  justice  is  done  both 
to  the  corporation  and  to  the  public  is  extremely  difficult 
and  requires  technical  and  administrative  skill  of  the 
highest  order.  The  function  of  regulating  public  utilities 
is,  therefore,  quite  as  much  an  administrative  as  a  legis- 
lative function,  indeed  more  so.  On  its  face  it  would 
seem  to  be  clearly  a  municipal  function,  since  it  is  the  use 
of  the  city's  streets  that  is  involved,  and  the  rights  and 
interests  of  the  municipal  citizenship  that  are  in  need 
of  protection.  There  are  some  very  important  consider- 
ations, however,  which  seem  to  point  to  the  need  of  state 
regulation  and  have  led,  in  the  United  States,  to  establish- 
ment of  state  administrative  authorities  with  a  greater 
or  less  amount  of  control  over  municipal  public  utilities 
as  well  as  over  state-wide  utilities,  such  as  railroads. 
Indeed,  this  question  of  state  versus  municipal  con- 
trol of  such  utilities  has  become  one  of  the  most  con- 
troverted of  all  the  questions  connected  with  public  utility 
regulation.  A  brief  presentation  of  the  points  involved 
will  therefore  not  be  out  of  place  at  this  point. 

To  begin  with,  it  may  be  said  that  prima  facie  the 
control  of  municipal  utilities,  that  is,  utilities  serving  the 
inhabitants  of  a  city  and  the  city  itself,  is  a  matter  for 


PUBLIC   UTILITIES  275 

the  municipality,  for  the  reasons  mentioned  above.  The 
power  to  grant  franchises  and  the  power  to  control  utili- 
ties already  operating  under  franchises  would  seem, 
therefore,  to  be  one  which,  under  general  conceptions  of 
home  rule  or  the  right  of  local  self-government,  should 
be  vested  in  the  city.  Indeed,  it  was  the  disregard  of 
local  interests  and  the  corruption  in  connection  with  the 
granting  of  franchises  in  the  streets  of  the  city  by  the 
state  legislature  that  led  to  the  introduction  of  provisions 
in  the  state  constitutions  prohibiting  the  legislature  from 
making  such  grants.  To  return  to  a  system  of  state 
franchises  for  local  corporations  would  seem  to  involve 
a  return  to  a  system  which  has  been  tried  and  found 
wanting.  It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  dis- 
regard of  the  rights  of  the  municipal  public  by  the  legis- 
lature dates  back  to  times  when  a  conception  of  the  real 
rights  and  interests  of  the  public  in  the  management  of 
public  utilities  had  not  yet  become  general,  and  that  ig- 
norance and  indifference  played  a  part  in  those  early 
developments  as  well  as  corruption.  This  is  evidenced 
by  the  fact  that  the  cities  themselves,  when  they  acquired 
the  right  of  granting  franchises,  were  just  as  indifferent 
to  the  interests  of  the  public  as  were  the  state  authorities 
that  had  formerly  made  the  grants.  Even  corruption  was 
as  rife  under  the  system  of  municipal  grants  as  under 
that  of  state  grants,  and  many  of  the  most  shameful  fran- 
chise scandals  were  perpetrated  by  city  councils,  the  local 
franchise  granting  bodies  that  were  looked  to  to  preserve 
the  interests  of  the  public.  It  seemed  to  make  little 
difference,  for  many  years  at  any  rate,  as  far  as  the 
public  was  concerned,  who  granted  the  public  utility  fran- 
chises ;  the  public  suft'ered  in  either  case. 

With  the  gradual  awakening,  however,  of  the  public 
realization  of  their  interest  in  the  control  of  public  util- 


276  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

ities,  the  question  is  no  longer  one  of  which  system  is 
likely  to  be  most  injurious  to  the  public,  but  which  sys- 
tem presents  the  likelihood  of  more  effective  regulation, 
assuming  that  both  are  managed  in  the  interests  of  the 
public.  It  is  true  that  the  era  of  corruption  is  by  no 
means  altogether  past,  and  that  to  many  people  the  prin- 
cipal factor  in  this  controversy  seems  to  be  that  of  mini- 
mizing the  possibility  of  wrongdoing  and  corruption,  a 
point  of  view  that  is  an  historical  heritage  of  our  whole 
conception  of  government  as  a  system  of  checks  and  bal- 
ances. If  the  main  point  of  view  to  be  kept  in  mind  is 
the  relative  likelihood  of  corruption  by  state  authorities 
as  compared  with  local  authorities,  the  question  seems 
incapable  of  any  definite  answer.  Some  people  are  of  the 
opinion  that  if  the  state  legislature  grants  the  franchises 
and  a  state  commission  is  charged  with  the  administration 
of  the  regulations,  the  pernicious  influence  of  the  public 
utility  corporations  can  more  effectively  unite  against 
the  public  interest  than  if  a  fight  has  to  be  made  in  every 
municipality  separately  in  order  to  control  the  public 
servants  in  the  interests  of  the  corporations.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  claimed  that  the  power  of  resistance  and 
the  check  of  publicity  are  much  greater  in  the  case  of 
state  authorities  backed  by  the  enlightened  electorate  of 
a  whole  state,  and  that  public  utilities  prefer  to  deal  with 
the  cities  individually  as  being  easier  prey.  Theorists 
stand  on  both  sides  of  this  question,  and  experience  can 
be  adduced  as  evidence  for  either  view.  In  many  in- 
stances, no  doubt,  where  cities  are  hopelessly  controlled 
by  corrupt  utility  rings  and  the  state  government  is  on 
a  higher  plane  of  policies,  the  interests  of  the  citizens  in 
such  matters  as  these  would  be  better  preserved  by  state 
authorities  than  by  local  authorities.  On  the  other  hand, 
instances  are  not  lacking  where  progressive  cities  have 


PUBLIC   UTILITIES  277 

made  advances  in  this  regard  which  would  never  have 
been  possible  under  an  inefficient  and  more  or  less  corrupt 
state  government. 

If  the  question  of  corruption  alone  were  involved,  it 
would  seem  clear  that  the  best  argument  would  still  rest 
with  the  advocates  of  local  regulation.  When  there  is 
great  likelihood  of  franchises  being  corruptly  granted 
and  the  grantees  corruptly  supervised,  it  would  seem 
better  that  the  citizens  of  each  city  should  suffer  from 
local  corruption  which  they  have  the  political  power  of 
destroying,  if  they  really  desire  it,  than  to  subject  them 
to  corruption  by  state  authorities  over  whom  they  have 
virtually  no  political  control.  The  possibility,  at  least,  of 
stamping  out  corruption  with  regard  to  a  particular  city 
rests,  then,  with  the  persons  most  vitally  affected.  The 
argument  that  the  united  efforts  of  municipal  citizens, 
through  their  representatives  in  the  state  government, 
would  prove  more  effective  for  the  safeguarding  of  pub- 
lic rights  throughout  the  cities  of  the  state  if  exerted 
upon  the  state  authorities  as  regulators  of  public  utilities, 
loses  much  of  its  force  when  it  is  remembered  that  in 
many  of  our  states  the  city  dwellers  are  greatly  in  the 
minority  and  depend  for  effective  influence  upon  igno- 
rant and  indifferent  representatives  of  rural  districts, 
where  local  utilities  do  not  exist  and  therefore  present 
no  governmental  problems. 

If  the  balance  of  argument  seems  to  favor  local  regu- 
lation, from  the  point  of  view  of  political  control  and 
the  elimination  of  corruption,  this  is  not  true  from  the 
point  of  view  of  expert  or  skilled  regulation.  As  has 
been  emphasized  above,  both  the  original  determination 
and  also  the  administration  of  the  regulations  imposed 
upon  public  utilities  require  the  employment  of  a  high 
degree  of  legal,  engineering,  and  financial  skill  if  the  regu- 
19 


278  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

lation  is  to  be  both  fair  and  efifective.  Such  technical 
skill  is,  however,  very  expensive,  and,  in  the  case  of  the 
smaller  class  of  cities,  at  any  rate,  is  frequently  quite  be- 
yond their  financial  powers.  The  corporations  can  and 
do  always  employ  the  most  competent  experts  they  can 
get,  for  they  prove  to  be  the  cheapest  in  the  long  run, 
at  almost  any  price,  at  least  at  prices  beyond  the  capac- 
ity of  small  cities  to  pay.  The  result  is  that  the  interests 
of  the  public  are  represented  by  amateurs,  while  those 
of  the  corporations  are  represented  by  experts.  Whe- 
ther these  interests  are  weighed,  therefore,  by  city  coun- 
cils, by  public  utility  commissioners,  or  by  the  courts, 
the  public  is  distinctly  at  a  disadvantage,  and,  natu- 
rally, usually  gets  the  small  end  of  the  deal.  It  is  only 
in  the  case  of  the  largest  class  of  cities,  therefore,  that 
local  regulation,  either  in  the  granting  of  franchises  or 
in  the  enforcement  of  their  terms,  is  likely  to  prove  sci- 
entific and  efficient.  A  state  board,  on  the  other  hand, 
can  easily  be  provided  with  the  best  experts  available, 
though  it  must  be  said  that  it  is  not  usually  the  case  even 
there,  owing  to  the  small  salaries  which  Americans  appear 
to  be  willing  to  pay  for  public  service,  no  matter  how  im- 
portant or  even  economical  in  the  long  run.  "The  long 
run"  does  not,  as  a  rule,  appeal  greatly  to  the  average 
American  citizen,  in  these  or  in  other  matters. 

There  is  another  consideration  in  favor  of  state  regu- 
lation over  local  regulation.  With  the  increasing  den- 
sity of  population,  the  closer  proximity  of  cities,  the 
tendency  toward  consolidation  in  the  management  of  pub- 
lic utilities,  and  the  technical  and  engineering  improve- 
ments that  are  continually  extending  the  effective  radius 
of  service  of  public  utilities,  the  purely  local  utility  is 
being  replaced  by  interurban  utilities  of  all  kinds.  Street 
railways  run  from  one  city  into  another,  passing  through 


PUBLIC   UTTTJTIES  279 

dozens  of  different  municipalities  in  one  continuous  run. 
Gas  companies  pipe  their  products  into  and  through  a 
great  many  cities,  while  waterworks,  electric-light,  and 
telephone  companies  find  it  advantageous  to  serve  more 
than  one  community.  Obviously,  in  such  cases,  the  under- 
taking should  be  regulated,  not  by  the  dozen  or  the  score 
of  municipalities  served,  but  by  a  single  authority.  To 
subject  the  corporation  to  the  individual  eccentricities  of 
local  utility  experts,  in  so  many  municipahties,  would 
make  the  undertaking  almost  impossible,  and  yet  consid- 
ations  of  large  economy  point  to  the  development  of  such 
interurban  utilities  as  the  desirable  line  of  progress. 
Fair  and  effective  regulation  in  such  cases  is  almost  out 
of  the  question  if  each  city  is  empowered  to  take  action. 
The  other  alternative  seems  to  be  state  regulation  for  all 
such  cases  as  this.  There  is  indeed  another  possibility, 
and  that  is  the  creation  of  a  special  governmental  au- 
thority whose  jurisdiction  shall  be  coextensive  with  the 
territory  to  be  served  by  the  utility,  giving  each  munici- 
pality interested  a  representation  in  this  new  governing 
authority.  A  plan  of  this  kind  has  frequently  been  put 
into  effect  in  European  countries,  and,  to  some  extent, 
in  the  United  States  also,  for  the  joint  management  of 
interurban  utilities  to  be  owned  and  operated  by  the  pub- 
lic ;  but,  as  a  mere  instrument  of  government  supervision, 
it  seems  to  be  impracticable  owing  to  the  multiplication 
of  jurisdictions,  one  being  required  for  practically  every 
separate  kind  of  utility,  and  the  continual  extension  of 
the  field  of  operation  of  these  utilities.  State  regulation 
seems  to  lie  the  only  alternative,  therefore,  in  the  case 
of  distinctly  interurban  utilities. 

For  interurban  utilities  and  for  local  utilities  in  the 
smaller  cities,  the  establishment  of  state  commissions  to 
regulate  the  matter  of  service  and  rates  seems  to  be  de- 


28o  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

sirable  from  the  point  of  view  of  effectiveness  of  control. 
For  the  cities  that  are  large  enough  to  be  able  to  pay 
for  expert  regulation,  the  original  argument  in  favor  of 
home  rule  seems  to  prevail.  Just  when  a  city  becomes 
able  to  protect  itself  adequately  is  not,  however,  a  matter 
that  can  be  definitely  determined.  To  a  large  extent 
municipal  expenditures  are  determined  upon  the  ques- 
tion of  relative  importance,  since  no  city  has  money 
enough  to  do  all  that  might  prove  desirable  if  the  ques- 
tion of  expenditure  could  be  ignored.  Therefore,  in 
some  cities  the  proper  regulation  of  public  utilities  locally 
might  be  considered  sufficiently  important  to  warrant  the 
expenditure  of  money  which  in  another  larger  city  is 
spent  on  parks  and  boulevards.  The  only  reasonable  so- 
lution of  the  question  would  seem  to  be  to  take  the  mini- 
mum population  below  which  it  is  apparent  that  no  city 
can  or  will  employ  sufficiently  expert  public  utility  com- 
missioners and  to  provide  for  state  regulation  of  their 
public  utilities.  Such  a  minimum  could  certainly  be  safely 
set  at  twenty-five  thousand  inhabitants  without  danger 
of  interfering  with  local  initiative  and  progressiveness. 
From  that  point  on  up  there  will  be  a  number  of  larger 
cities  which  may  or  may  not  be  or  feel  able  to  handle 
the  public  utility  situation.  These  should  be  permitted 
to  decide  for  themselves  whether  they  wish  to  have  the 
benefits  of  state  regulation,  with  its  possible  drawbacks, 
or  whether  they  wish  to  handle  the  matter  themselves. 
Above  a  certain  point,  say  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
population,  the  question  may  properly  be  regarded  as  so 
largely  a  local  one  that  state  regulation  is  undesirable, 
and  both  the  privilege  and  the  obligation  of  handling  the 
public  utility  problem  should  be  imposed  upon  the  mu- 
nicipality, with  only  such  legal  limitations  as  may  appear 
necessary  in  the  interests  of  saving  a  power  of  interven- 


PUBLIC   UTILITIES  281 

tion  on  the  part  of  the  state  in  case  matters  become  hope- 
lessly bad  and  the  local  electorate  or  authorities  appeal 
to  the  state  for  hcli).  Quite  consistent  with  the  princi- 
ple of  local  regulation  is  a  very  desirable  requirement  that, 
even  in  cities  having  their  own  public  utility  commissions, 
the  full  records  of  the  corporations  and  of  the  dealings 
of  the  city  with  the  corporations  be  filed  with  the  state 
authorities  for  purposes  of  information  and  ultimate 
supervision. 

In  cities  w-here,  as  is  normally  still  the  case,  the  fran- 
chise-granting power  is  in  the  hands  of  the  local  authori- 
ties, it  seems  desirable  that  the  local  electorate  have  a 
right  of  voting  on  proposed  franchise  grants,  at  least 
in  all  cases  where  important  concessions  are  made  in 
the  public  streets.  Since  franchise  grants  are  legally 
contracts,  the  public  is  left  without  remedy  if  the  city 
authorities  are  careless  in  granting  away  valuable  rights. 
The  ordinary  weapon  of  the  elector  as  regards  laws  and 
ordinances,  viz.,  the  retirement  of  the  representatives 
responsible  for  the  passage  of  the  law^s  and  the  election 
of  others  who  will  repeal  the  undesirable  legislation,  is 
manifestly  useless  in  the  case  of  contract  rights  once 
granted  away.  It  seems  only  proper,  therefore,  that  no 
such  action  shall  become  effective  until  formally  approved 
by  the  electorate  as  well  as  by  the  authorities.  It  is  true 
that  the  public  generally  is  likely  to  approve  such  propo- 
sals without  much  consideration,  but  the  obligatory  refer- 
endum at  least  throws  the  responsibility  clearly  on  those 
who  will  suffer  from  carelessness  in  this  regard. 


CHAPTER   X 

MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP^ 

The  criminal  record  of  many  public  service  corpora- 
tions in  the  past,  from  the  point  of  view  of  sacrificing  all 
interests  of  the  public  to  their  own  interests,  the  difficulty 
of  getting  legislatures  or  councils  to  attack  the  problem 
of  public  utility  regulation  with  the  necessary  intelligence 
and  energy,  and  the  inherent  and  continuing  difficulties  in- 
volved in  proper  regulation,  as  indicated  in  the  previous 
pages,  have  all  combined  to  suggest  an  heroic  remedy 
for  this  vexatious  problem,  a  remedy  which  has  been  con- 
tinually growing  in  favor.  Since  public  utilities  are 
businesses  so  affected  with  a  public  interest  as  to  require 
very  careful  regulation  and  minute  supervision,  and  since 
the  financial  interests  of  the  corporations  seem  to  be 
inherently  antagonistic  to  the  interests  of  the  public, 
the  suggestion  naturally  arises  that  the  public  itself,  that 
is,  in  the  case  under  discussion,  the  city,  should  own  and 
operate  these  public  utilities.  Thus  is  raised  the  cry 
for  municipal  ownership  and  operation  of  public  utilities, 
which  is  today  one  of  the  most  agitated  questions  of  mu- 
nicipal policies,  not  only  in  American  cities,  but  in  Euro- 
pean ones  as  well.    The  natural  appeal  to  municipal  own- 

^  This  subject  is  also  treated  at  length  in  King :  The  Regula- 
tion of  Municipal  Utilities,  1912,  D.  Appleton  and  Company, 
Publishers,  New  York. — Editor. 

282 


MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP  283 

ership  as  the  easiest  way  out  of  the  difficulties  involved 
in  public  utility  regulation,  though  perhaps  the  most  gen- 
eral and  popular  argument  in  favor  of  municipal  own- 
ership and  operation  in  this  country  today,  is  not  the 
only  consideration  that  prompts  many  students  of  oiuni- 
cipal  administration  to  turn  to  that  program.  It  may  be 
worth  while,  therefore,  to  consider  briefly  some  of  the 
main  points  advanced  in  favor  of  municipal  ownership 
and  operation,  and  to  see,  if  possible,  what  are  the  chief 
objections  to  the  movement. 

In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  claimed  that  most  of  the 
serious  evils  resulting  from  private  ownership  will  disap- 
pear, since  there  will  be  no  incentive  on  the  part  of  the 
city  to  continue  them,  the  city  being  in  a  position  to 
emphasize  service  rather  than  financial  gain.  For  in- 
stance, stock  watering,  one  of  the  most  difificult  of  the 
abuses  to  control  in  the  case  of  privately  owned  corpora- 
tions, is  no  longer  of  financial  benefit  to  anyone.  More- 
over, increases  in  the  value  of  the  land,  the  plant,  or  the 
business  of  the  undertaking  accrue  automatically  to  the 
city,  either  to  the  utility  users  or  to  the  general  taxpayers, 
depending  on  the  financial  policy  to  be  followed.  Thirdly, 
the  political  corruption  which  has,  in  this  country,  at  least, 
always  associated  itself  with  the  dealings  of  the  public 
utility  corporations  and  the  representatives  of  the  pub- 
lic would  be  eliminated,  and  one  grievous  political  sore 
be  given  an  opportunity  to  heal  up.  This  is  one  of  the 
arguments  which  is  most  strenuously  insisted  upon  by 
those  advocates  who  see  in  municipal  ownership  of  public 
utilities  one  of  the  most  essential  steps  in  the  direction 
of  purifying  city  politics,  and  who  set  that  consideration 
above  even  questions  of  service  and  rates. 

There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that,  so  far  as  the  illegal 
practices  of  public  service  corporations  are  concerned,  and 


284  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

investigation  has  proved  beyond  a  possibility  of  doubt 
that  in  numerous  cases  their  activities  have  been  in  a  great 
measure  both  anti-social  and  illegal,  the  possibility  of  their 
complete  elimination  by  municipal  ownership  and  opera- 
tion presents  incalculable  advantages  over  difficult  regu- 
lation. There  are,  moreover,  aspects  of  the  problem 
which  show  that  even  the  perfectly  legitimate  operations 
of  private  corporations  are  much  less  favorable  to  the 
public  than  is  the  position  which  could  be  assumed  by 
the  municipality  owning  and  operating  the  same  utility. 
The  primary  object  of  a  public  service  corporation  is  ob- 
viously that  of  money  returns  on  a  financial  investment. 
Unless  a  reasonable  financial  profit  is  permitted  to  be 
earned,  there  will  be  no  capital  invested  in  that  sort  of 
undertaking.  Existing  corporations  will  go  into  dissolu- 
tion and  no  new  undertakings  will  be  promoted.  Both 
quality  of  service  and  rates  charged  are,  of  course,  af- 
fected by  the  requirement  of  reasonable  profits  on  capital 
invested,  if  the  utility  is  privately  owned  and  operated. 
If  the  city  owns  and  operates  the  utility,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  element  of  financial  profit  can,  if  desired,  be 
entirely  ignored.  The  reasonable  profit  which  must  be 
earned  by  the  private  corporation  can,  in  the  case  of  the 
city,  be  turned  into  better  service  or  reduced  rates,  or  both, 
without  making  the  operation  of  the  utility  a  charge  upon 
the  finances  of  the  city.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be 
noted  that  some  enthusiastic  supporters  of  municipal  own- 
ership emphasize  the  advantages  of  having  these  profits 
accrue  to  the  benefit  of  the  public  treasury,  and  welcome 
the  change  as  one  means  of  aiding  in  the  big  problem  of 
securing  the  necessary  revenues  for  the  city.  Obviously, 
both  of  the  last-named  advantages  cannot  be  realized  con- 
currently, and  it  will  be  necessary  to  inquire  a  little 
later  into  the  questions  of  policy  involved  in  this  matter. 


MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP  285 

It  is  also  claimed  that,  owing  to  the  superior  borrowing 
power  of  cities  as  compared  with  private  corporations, 
the  rate  of  interest  that  cities  have  to  pay  being  lower, 
their  utilities  profit  by  lower  overhead  charges,  which  can 
be  turned  into  profits  or  applied  in  improving  service  or 
lowering  charges. 

To  offset  these  claims  in  favor  of  municipal  ownership, 
the  opponents  of  this  development  point,  in  the  United 
States,  to  the  acknowledged  inefficiency  and  even  corrup- 
tion of  American  city  government.  To  impose  upon  gov- 
ernmental agencies,  which  have  proven  so  incapable  of 
handling  properly  the  duties  already  assigned  them,  a  task 
so  difficult  and  complex  as  the  successful  operation  of 
large  utility  plants,  is  simply  to  invite  the  utter  breakdown 
of  the  weak  machinery  and  to  plunge  our  cities  into  finan- 
cial ruin.  There  can  be  no  answer,  unfortunately,  to  the 
charge  that  our  cities  have,  as  a  rule,  been  so  full  of 
inefficiency  and  even  corruption  that  they  seem  unsafe 
instruments  for  performing  difficult  tasks  of  administra- 
tion. At  the  same  time,  it  must  be  repeated  here  that 
the  regulation  of  public  utilities,  outlined  above,  requires 
a  high  degree  of  legal,  engineering  and  financial  skill 
to  be  done  successfully.  Either  the  city  is  capable  of  em- 
ploying that  kind  of  skill  and  of  having  the  work  of  regu- 
lation done  eflfectively,  in  which  case  the  work  of  actual 
administration  would  require  no  very  great  additional 
administrative  capacities,  or  the  city  must  surrender  and 
acknowledge  that  it  is  wholly  incapable  of  dealing  with 
the  public  utility  situation.  Rut  this  second  alternative 
is  one  that  even  the  ardent  opponents  of  municipal  own- 
ership are  not  willing  to  admit,  for  they  all  recognize  the 
propriety,  desirabihty,  and  necessity  as  well  as  the  pos- 
sibility of  such  regulation.  Advocates  of  state  regulation 
of  all  public  utilities  can,  it  is  true,  consistently  claim 


286  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

that  American  cities  are  incapable  of  either  efficient  man- 
agement or  of  regulation,  but  many,  if  not  most  of  the 
municipal  ownership  opponents,  would  be  unwilling  to 
surrender  the  principle  of  home  rule  to  the  extent  of 
turning  over  the  whole  utility  question  to  the  state  gov- 
ernment. The  objection  to  municipal  ownership  based 
on  the  inefficiency  of  municipal  government  in  this  coun- 
try is,  therefore,  hardly  a  conclusive  one,  though  it  makes 
a  strong  appeal. 

A  more  serious  objection,  perhaps,  is  encountered  in 
the  fear  that  the  municipalization  of  public  utilities  requir- 
ing the  services  of  great  numbers  of  men  will  introduce 
a  political  danger  of  no  mean  magnitude.  If  the  laborers 
and  other  employees  that  work  on  public  utilities  get  on 
the  city  payroll,  it  is  feared  that  the  political  pressure 
brought  to  bear  on  them,  not  only  in  favor  of  the  shortest 
possible  hours  of  labor  and  the  largest  possible  wages,  but 
also  in  favor  of  lax  discipline  and  general  inefficiency,  will 
be  too  strong  to  be  resisted  successfully  and  will  demor- 
alize the  service.  The  voting  strength  of  the  employees  of 
waterworks,  light  plants,  street  railways,  and  telephone 
companies  will  in  any  city  constitute  a  very  considerable 
part  of  the  total  and,  in  many  cases,  hold  the  balance  of 
power.  Whatever  the  political  opinions  of  these  men 
may  be,  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  their  chief  concern 
will  center  about  the  matter  of  the  conditions  of  their 
labor.  If  their  influence  were  to  be  exercised  only  in  the 
direction  of  improving  conditions  up  to  a  reasonable 
point,  such  influence  could  but  be  accounted  beneficial; 
but  the  same  political  strength  which  would  enable  them 
to  bring  conditions  up  to  a  reasonable  standard  would 
enable  them  to  insist  on  unreasonable  and  ruinous  con- 
ditions, and  there  is  no  way  of  limiting  that  political  in- 
fluence to  its  legitimate  use. 


MUNICIPAL    OWNERSHIP  287 

There  seems  to  be  no  question  that  a  body  of  municipal 
employees,  organized  for  that  poUtical  purpose,  exercises 
a  much  more  powerful  and  direct  influence  than  would 
the  same  body  of  workingmen  also  politically  organized 
for  the  purpose  of  improving  working  conditions  but 
employed  by  private  corporations.  The  reason  for  this 
is  simply  that,  in  the  case  of  men  employed  by  private 
corporations,  the  self-interest  of  the  corporations  will 
always  prompt  them  to  fight  the  demands  of  the  em- 
ployees, whereas,  if  the  same  men  are  employed  by  the 
city,  the  only  effective  check  upon  their  demands  must 
be  exercised  by  men  who  may  lose  their  positions  if  they 
defend  a  general  public  interest  against  the  specific  de- 
mands of  the  organized  employees.  In  other  words,  the 
power  of  improving  the  conditions  of  work  of  municipal 
employees  lies  immediately  and  directly  in  the  hands  of 
elected  officials,  while  privately  employed  workers  must 
appeal  to  officials  who  have  but  a  limited  and  largely  in- 
direct power  of  influencing  their  conditions  of  work. 

This  danger  is  a  real  one  and  not  merely  a  theoretical 
one,  as  the  experience  of  democracies  in  which  govern- 
ment ownership  is  widely  applied  has  shown.  As  a  rem- 
edy for  this  condition,  the  plan  has  been  proposed  of 
disfranchising  the  municipal  employees  in  local  elections, 
in  order  to  prevent  them  from  exercising  a  pernicious 
influence  in  politics.  It  is  not  possible  to  go  into  the 
merits  of  this  proposal  here,  except  to  point  out  that  it 
is  extremely  unlikely  that  the  plan  would  meet  with  the 
approval  of  the  American  electorate.  This  danger,  then, 
remains  and  must  be  faced.  It  is,  of  course,  true  that  the 
answer  may  justly  be  made  that  the  pernicious  influence 
of  employees  working  to  get  all  they  can  out  of  the  city 
for  as  little  returns  as  possible,  could  not  in  any  case 
be  any  worse  than  has  been  the  pernicious  influence  of 


288  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

public  utility  corporations  in  the  past  trying  to  accom- 
plish the  same  thing.  Yet  the  day  seems  to  be  coming, 
when  the  selfish  demands  of  the  corporations  can  be  modi- 
fied in  the  interests  of  the  public,  while  no  satisfactory 
suggestion  has  yet  been  made  for  meeting  the  new  politi- 
cal danger  that  would  come  from  having  a  very  large 
number  of  voters  on  the  city  payroll.  In  view  of  the 
general  experience  of  cities  in  democracies,  both  here  and 
elsewhere,  that  they  pay  more  and  get  less  service  than 
do  private  corporations  with  the  employees  they  already 
have,  it  seems  fairly  certain  that  the  increase  of  munici- 
pal employees  to  the  point  of  constituting  a  strong  and 
well-organized  section  of  the  electorate,  with  immediate 
common  purposes  of  more  importance  than  any  general 
questions  of  political  opinion,  would  mean  even  more  un- 
satisfactory conditions. 

If  we  turn  from  theoretical  contentions  to  practical 
experience,  the  matter  is  still  further  confused  rather 
than  cleared  up.  Some  very  careful  and  exhaustive  stud- 
ies of  this  side  of  the  subject  have  been  made  in  recent 
years,  notably  that  of  the  Commission  on  Pubhc  Owner- 
ship of  the  National  Civic  Federation  in  1907.  This 
investigation  proved  that  comparisons  as  to  efficiency  of 
management,  and  even  as  to  rates  and  service,  are  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  make,  and  that  no  general  conclusions 
for  or  against  municipal  ownership  and  operation  are 
inevitably  to  be  drawn  from  even  careful  investigation. 
Consequently,  the  whole  matter  is  largely  left  to  the 
relative  appeal  of  theoretical  contentions. 

It  has  already  been  seen  in  other  connections,  that  all 
public  utilities  are  not  to  be  treated  alike  in  considering 
this  question.  The  general  arguments  for  and  against 
municipal  ownership  must  make  way,  and  are  making 
way,  for  more  specific  considerations  in  the  case  of  certain 


MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP  289 

utilities.  Such,  for  instance,  are  public  waterworks. 
The  propriety  of  municipal  ownership  and  operation  of 
waterworks  is  generally  conceded,  even  by  opponents  of 
the  general  principle  of  municipal  ownership,  on  the 
ground  that  the  public  health  is  so  intimately  connected 
with  the  water  supply,  to  say  nothing  of  the  safety  of 
the  city  against  fire,  that  even  wasteful  and  expensive 
numicipal  operation,  which  can  at  least  safeguard  the  pub- 
lic health,  would  be  better  than  private  operation  involv- 
ing that  lack  of  immediate  control  which  may  be  essential 
to  prevent  widespread  sickness  and  death.  Waterworks 
are  therefore  the  most  widely  municipally  owned  utilities 
in  this  country,  and,  curiously  enough,  seem  to  be  the 
best  managed  from  a  business  point  of  view  as  well. 
This  may,  no  doubt,  be  due  to  the  fact  that  there  are  no 
great  technical  difficulties  in  waterworks'  administration, 
as  compared,  for  instance,  with  the  manufacture  and  dis- 
tribution of  gas,  or  the  management  of  street  railways. 
Furthermore,  as  a  means  of  getting  services  which  pri- 
vate capital  will  not  supply,  such  as  good  theaters  at  low 
rates,  or  businesses  which  present  unusual  difficulties  of 
police  control,  like  pawnshops,  municipal  ownership  is  a 
logical  necessity,  and  has  been  introduced  extensively 
in  European  cities. 

But  the  municipal  ownership  movement  has  made  great 
progress  in  European  cities  in  other  directions  also,  es- 
pecially along  the  lines  of  street  railways,  one  of  the 
utilities  which  has  so  far  been  municipalized  in  but  a  few 
American  cities.  The  movement  for  municipal  ownership 
is  steadily  progressing  in  the  United  States  as  well, 
though  American  cities  have  not,  in  general,  been  granted 
the  saiue  freedom  in  this  matter  that  has  been  accorded 
to  European  cities.  As  a  means  of  insuring  good  service, 
low  rates,  and  profits  to  the  city  treasury,  no  one  need 


290  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

look  to  municipal  ownership  as  a  certain  cure-all.  The 
actual  decision  in  a  particular  city  as  to  whether  a  change 
shall  be  made  from  private  to  public  ownership  will  be 
decided,  it  is  true,  largely  by  the  general  convictions  on 
the  subject  of  the  majority  of  the  citizens,  but  these  con- 
victions will  be  powerfully  influenced  by  local  condi- 
tions. If  the  private  corporations  have  consistently 
furnished  poor  service  and  charged  high  rates,  and  if  the 
legal  powers  of  the  city  or  the  conditions  of  the  fran- 
chise prevent  the  enforcement  of  adequate  regulation,  the 
demand  for  municipal  ownership  will  suddenly  become 
overwhelming,  and  theoretical  objections  to  municipal- 
ization will  be  thrown  aside  without  much  ado.  This 
will  be  especially  the  case  if  the  municipal  authorities 
have  shown  themselves  champions  of  the  public  interests 
so  far  as  their  powers  went.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
service  is  good  and  the  rates  are  low  and  there  is  no 
charge  of  meddling  in  politics  by  the  corporation,  the  ad- 
vocates of  municipal  ownership  are  likely  to  find  little 
enthusiasm,  though  even  abstract  devotion  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  municipal  ownership  is  spreading  rapidly.  The 
corporations  themselves  can  therefore  pretty  generally 
determine  the  attitude  of  the  public.  If  they  furnish  good 
service  and  are  content  with  reasonable  profits,  the  dema- 
gogues who  denounce  all  corporations  without  discrimin- 
ation as  robbers,  and  who  appeal  to  the  prejudices  of  the 
voter  to  raise  a  popular  political  platform  on  which  they 
may  stand,  will  find  a  relatively  small  following.  If  they 
cling  to  the  attitude  of  "the  public  be  damned,"  they  will 
find  that  general  arguments  against  municipal  owner- 
ship avail  them  little.  In  other  words,  the  chief  appeal 
of  municipal  ownership  in  this  country  today  is  still  as 
a  means  of  relief  from  intolerable  corporate  abuse  which 
cannot  be  escaped  in  any  other  manner.    As  a  sword  of 


MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP  291 

Damocles  suspended  over  the  heads  of  uncontrollable  cor- 
porations, the  possibility  of  municipal  ownership  is  a 
most  valuable  champion  of  public  rights,  and  all  legal 
and  financial  difficulties  under  which  American  cities 
commonly  labor,  in  making  this  threat  effective,  should 
be  removed. 

The  difficulties  which  must  be  removed  in  order  to 
enable  cities  to  make  use  of  the  specter  of  municipal 
ownership  to  help  keep  short-sighted  corporations  under 
control  are  manifold.  In  the  first  place,  cities  have  not 
in  all  cases  been  given  power  to  own  and  operate  all 
public  utilities.  In  cases  where  corporations  are  operat- 
ing under  long-term  franchises  which  are  so  drawn  as  to 
deprive  the  city  of  effective  control,  the  erection  of  a 
plant  by  the  city  and  the  elimination  of  the  corporation 
by  competition  is  sometimes  the  only  solution  of  the 
problem.  The  same  situation  arises  in  case  the  con- 
ditions under  which  the  city  can  buy  the  plant  of  the 
corporation  include  watered  values  and  franchise  values, 
neither  of  which  the  city  should  be  compelled  to  assume. 
Otherwise,  the  more  economical  plan  is  to  purchase  the 
existing  plant  at  a  fair  price  when  the  franchise  expires 
or  one  of  the  purchase  periods  in  an  indeterminate  fran- 
chise has  arrived. 

But  the  mere  legal  power  to  buy  the  plant  of  public 
service  corporations,  even  at  a  fair  price,  is  valueless  if 
financial  restrictions  stand  in  the  way.  Expensive  utility 
plants  cannot  and  should  not  be  constructed  or  purchased 
without  the  borrowing  of  money  by  the  issuance  of  bonds. 
The  borrowing  power  of  American  cities  being  generally 
definitely  limited,  as  will  be  seen  in  a  later  chapter,  and 
that  limit  being  usually  reached  or  nearly  so  by  the  bond 
issues  required  for  other  public  improvements,  it  is  fre- 
quently impossible  for  cities  to  purchase  plants,  even  at 


292  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

a  great  bargain  or  when  very  necessary  for  the  public 
good.  Obviously,  a  bond  issue  for  the  purpose  of  ac- 
quiring a  public  utility  at  a  fair  price,  which  can  easily 
be  made  to  pay  its  own  expenses,  including  interest  and 
sinking  fund,  is  not  an  additional  financial  charge  against 
the  city  and  should  not  be  included  in  the  debt  limit.  If 
it  is  shown  that  the  city  is  paying  a  reasonable  price  for 
a  necessary  utility,  the  debt  limitation  should  not  apply. 
All  cities  should,  therefore,  be  enabled  to  use  effectively 
the  threat  of  municipal  ownership,  leaving  the  deter- 
mination of  the  advisability  of  putting  the  threat  into 
action  to  the  local  sentiment.  Since  this  is,  after  all, 
largely  a  matter  of  conviction  and  of  public  policy  involv- 
ing a  continuing  and,  in  a  measure,  an  irretrievable  step, 
it  seems  eminently  a  matter  that  should  be  determined 
by  a  referendum  of  the  electorate,  not  merely  by  action 
of  the  governing  authorities. 

If  municipal  ownership  and  operation  are  actually  put 
into  effect,  there  are  still  some  important  matters  of  pub- 
lic policy  to  be  determined  upon.  Chief  among  these 
is  the  one  that  was  raised  earlier  in  the  chapter,  namely, 
the  financial  policy  that  is  to  govern  the  administration 
of  the  utility.  At  least  three  or  four  alternatives  present 
themselves.  The  utility  may  be  so  indispensable  and  so 
inevitably  connected  with  the  health  of  the  community 
that  the  question  of  returns  is  wholly  unimportant.  For 
instance,  to  take  an  example  that  has  already  been  made 
use  of,  pure  water  for  domestic  purposes  is  absolutely 
necessary,  and  no  one  in  the  city  could  safely  be  left  with- 
out it.  If  necessary,  therefore,  every  member  of  the 
community  must  be  furnished  pure  water  at  a  price  he 
can  pay,  even  if  the  waterworks  are  operated  at  a  loss 
in  consequence.  In  that  case  the  deficit  would  have  to  be 
borne  out  of  the  general  funds  of  the  city,  and  the  utility 


MUNICIPAL    OWNERSHIP  293 

would  actually  become  a  financial  charge  upon  the  com- 
munity. Up  to  the  present,  the  problem  of  securing  pure 
water  has  not  involved  such  difficulties  as  to  interfere 
with  the  possibility  of  furnishing  water  to  every  one  at 
reasonable  rates  and  still  make  a  profit  out  of  the  plant. 
Conceivably  that  development  may,  however,  occur  with 
the  increase  in  the  density  of  population.  Such  a  utility 
is,  therefore,  properly  regarded  as  more  like  the  govern- 
mental service  of  the  city,  like  police  and  fire  protection, 
for  instance,  which  are  paid  for  out  of  the  general  funds 
and  not  by  charges  against  those  making  use  of  them. 

A  second  method  of  procedure,  with  regard  to  rates, 
would  insist  upon  a  return  from  the  utility  just  sufficient 
to  pay  overhead  charges  and  operating  expenses  but  no 
profits.  In  that  case  the  utility  would  be  no  charge  upon 
the  treasury,  and  the  users  would  be  charged  only  the 
actual  cost  of  the  commodity  used.  Contrasted  VTith  this 
is  the  third  possible  policy,  that  of  charging  rates  suffi- 
cient to  yield  a  reasonable  profit  over  and  above  oper- 
ating expense  and  overhead  charges.  In  this  case,  the 
profit  accrues  to  the  benefit  of  the  taxpayers  generally 
at  the  expense  of  the  users  of  the  utility.  On  the  relative 
merits  of  these  two  methods  of  handling  the  situation 
there  is  considerable  difference  of  opinion  and  of  prac- 
tice. On  the  one  hand,  it  is  claimed  that  the  city,  if  it 
goes  into  business  undertakings,  should  operate  them 
on  a  business  basis,  including  legitimate  profits.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  asserted  that  one  of  the  advantages  of 
public  ownership  over  private  ownership  of  these  busi- 
nesses affected  with  a  public  interest  is  that  the  element 
of  profit  can  be  eliminated  and  the  public  served  at  cost. 
The  contention  in  favor  of  including  reasonable  profits 
in  the  charges  has  the  great  attraction  of  aiding  in  re- 
tarding the  universally  rising  general  tax  rate  and  finds 
20 


294  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

favor  with  the  politicians  who  like  to  pose  on  the  "re- 
duction of  taxes"  platform.  The  elimination  of  profits 
has  a  social  appeal  which  is  receiving  more  and  more 
support.  This  social  appeal  is  not  equally  strong  in  the 
case  of  all  utilities.  But  the  case  of  transportation  pre- 
sents it  in  sufficiently  strong  form.  If  the  street  rail- 
ways yield  a  profit  to  the  city  on  the  basis  of  a  five-cent 
fare,  and  just  pay  expenses,  all  charges  included,  on  the 
basis  of  a  three-cent  fare,  two  cents  a  ride  represents  the 
profit  charge  to  each  person.  This  amount  is  paid  by 
the  wage  earner,  at  the  bottom  of  the  financial  scale,  and 
by  the  millionaire  at  the  top  (when  he  uses  the  street 
cars),  alike.  It  means  absolutely  nothing  to  the  well-to- 
do,  but  may  mean  much  to  the  laborer  who  has  to  ride 
to  and  from  his  work,  whose  children  ride  to  school  and 
whose  entire  family  finds  its  only  recreation  in  street- 
car rides  on  Sunday.  The  money  that  accrues  to  the  city 
treasury  from  the  profits  represents,  therefore,  a  very 
unequal  burden  on  necessities  of  life.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  profits  are  eliminated,  the  burden  is  greatly  de- 
creased for  the  class  least  able  to  bear  it,  and  the  dif- 
ference is  paid  out  of  the  proceeds  of  general  taxation, 
which,  theoretically  at  least,  bears  upon  all  according  to 
ability  to  pay.  In  the  case  of  those  utilities  which  are 
practically  necessities  of  life,  therefore,  and  which  must 
be  paid  for  by  the  very  poor  as  well  as  by  the  very  rich 
at  the  same  rate,  social  justice  would  seem  to  be  clearly 
in  favor  of  eliminating  the  profit  charges.  In  the  case 
of  such  utilities  as  the  telephone,  on  the  other  hand, 
which  cannot  be  regarded  as  necessities  in  the  home  of 
the  very  poor,  there  is  not  the  same  argument  against 
profit  charges,  and  the  financial  advantages  would  seem  to 
favor  the  policy  of  securing  reasonable  profits. 

Finally,  there  is  the  policy  of  charging  rates  which 


MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP  295 

will  insure  not  merely  reasonable  profits  but  the  greatest 
possible  returns  to  the  city  exchequer.  As  ajjplied  to 
the  operation  of  real  public  utilities,  that  is,  undertak- 
ings which  serve  a  real  public  need,  this  policy  has  little 
to  recommend  it,  for,  while  it  may  improve  the  financial 
condition  of  the  city,  it  would  limit  the  use  of  the  public 
utilities  in  a  way  that  would  not  be  desirable.  To  charge 
what  the  traffic  will  bear  is  a  discredited  principle  in  the 
case  of  privately  owned  utilities,  and  is  not  much  better 
when  practiced  by  the  city,  even  if  the  profits  flow  into 
the  public  treasury.  The  attraction  in  operating  under- 
takings merely  because  it  is  believed  that  they  will  prove 
financially  profitable  for  the  city  may  prove  a  very  dan- 
gerous lure.  That  phase  of  municipal  owership  which 
borders  closely  on  speculation  has  not  been  considered 
in  this  discussion  at  all,  for,  while  there  are  some  enthu- 
siasts who  believe  cities  should  make  money  in  any  way 
they  can,  the  sober  judgment  of  students  of  govern- 
mental affairs  will  never  approve  such  a  doubtful  policy. 
One  other  consideration  must  be  kept  in  mind  with 
regard  to  municipal  ownership,  when  actually  introduced. 
No  matter  which  policy  of  charges  is  adopted,  it  is  ab- 
solutely essential  to  the  satisfactory  management  of  the 
undertaking  tiiat  accurate  and  scientific  accounting  be 
practiced.  The  loose  methods  of  accounting  employed  by 
most  American  cities  in  all  of  their  financial  activities  will 
do  more  toward  discrediting  the  financial  administration 
of  public  utilities  than  any  other  one  consideration,  and 
this  makes  it  necessary  to  point  out  the  superlative  im- 
portance of  instituting  scientific  accounting  methods 
before  the  ownership  and  operation  of  new  utilities  are 
undertaken. 


CHAPTER   XI 

MUNICIPAL  FINANCES — REVENUES 

In  the  preceding  chapters  the  attempt  has  been  made 
to  outline,  in  a  very  brief  and  simple  way,  the  activities 
which  the  modern  city  is  called  upon  to  perform.  The 
needs  of  the  city  dweller  and  the  obligations  of  the  city 
government  have  been  set  forth  in  a  broad  way  from 
the  point  of  view  of  what  should  be  done.  Quite  as  im- 
portant from  the  practical  point  of  view,  indeed,  abso- 
lutely prerequisite  to  the  carrying  out  of  any  such  pro- 
gram, either  in  whole  or  in  part,  is  the  question  of  how 
the  city  gets  the  money  necessary  to  carry  on  these  un- 
dertakings. A  great  deal  of  money  is  needed  to  carry 
on  even  a  small  part  of  these  activities,  and  each  addi- 
tional activity  involves  the  need  of  increased  financial 
resources.  What  the  financial  resources  of  cities  com- 
monly are  and  how  they  can  be  increased  becomes,  there- 
fore, a  foundation-stone  for  the  building  of  a  municipal 
program. 

Speaking  broadly,  there  are  three  principal  sources  of 
municipal  revenue — taxation,  income  from  municipal 
property  and  undertakings,  and  subventions  from  the 
central  government.  In  American  cities,  taxation  yields 
by  far  the  largest  part  of  the  revenues  of  the  city,  while 
in  European  countries,  particularly  in  Germany,  cities  de- 

296 


MUNICIPAL    FINANCES— REVENUES     297 

rive  a  proportionately  greater  share  from  municipal  un- 
dertakings and  from  subventions.  Taxation,  the  most 
important  source  of  municipal  income  everywhere,  is  of 
various  kinds.  In  Germany,  the  chief  category  of  local 
direct  taxes  are  income  taxes,  and  in  England  the  direct 
local  taxes  are  rates  based  on  the  rental  value  of  property, 
while  in  the  United  States  the  general  property  tax  is 
by  far  the  most  important  kind  of  direct  tax.  The  gen- 
eral property  tax  as  employed  in  all  American  cities,  be- 
ing the  chief  source  of  municipal  revenue  in  this  coun- 
try, requires  some  consideration.  It  is  an  ad  valorem  tax 
supposed  to  be  assessed  on  all  property,  real  and  personal 
alike,  according  to  value.  In  fact,  constitutional  and  legal 
provisions  almost  uniformly  require,  in  our  states,  that 
no  distinction  be  made  between  various  kinds  of  property 
in  assessing  and  levying  the  general  property  tax. 

Perhaps  no  better  example  can  be  found  of'  an  anti- 
quated and  unfair  governmental  practice  in  our  American 
system  than  the  continuation  of  this  general  property  tax. 
A  hundred  years  ago,  economic  conditions  were  such 
that  a  tax  imposed  upon  persons  on  the  basis  of  the  value 
of  their  real  and  personal  property  was  a  fairly  accurate 
approach  to  the  ideal  of  taxing  every  one  according  to  his 
financial  ability  to  contribute,  provided  the  assessing 
process  was  fairly  and  impartially  carried  out.  Even  then, 
the  general  property  tax  was  open  to  some  of  the  serious 
objections  that  are  now  urged  against  it,  but,  generally 
speaking,  it  was  not  the  instrument  of  injustice  which  it 
has  since  turned  out  to  be.  The  development  which  has 
made  the  general  property  tax  unsound  and  unfair  is 
the  growth  of  intangible  property.  As  long  as  personal 
property  consisted  largely  of  live  stock,  commercial  goods, 
household  furniture,  equipages,  etc.,  that  is,  tangible 
property,  it  was  possible  to  assess  taxes  against  the  own- 


298  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

ers  roughly  on  the  basis  of  the  value  of  the  personal 
and  real  property  together.  With  the  development  of 
intangible  personalty,  that  is,  particularly,  corporate  secu- 
rities and  stocks,  the  general  property  tax  became  a  farce, 
as  far  as  reaching  the  vast  amount  of  intangible  personal 
property  was  concerned.  It  was  simply  impossible  for 
the  local  tax  assessors  to  get  track  of  these  intangible 
assets,  for  there  was  no  proof  available  of  what  they 
amounted  to.  In  consequence,  the  owner  of  corporate 
securities,  a  kind  of  property  that  has  been  increasing 
in  amount  and  value  by  leaps  and  bounds,  could,  if  he 
desired,  go  scot  free  in  the  city  in  which  he  lived  and 
in  which  he  should  be  taxed. 

The  natural  temptation  to  avoid  paying  taxes  when 
that  was  possible,  was  still  further  increased  by  the  na- 
ture of  intangible  property.  These  securities  are  pur- 
chased for  their  income-yielding  character.  Most  of 
them  normally,  are  expected  to  yield  about  five  or  six 
per  cent  of  their  market  value.  General  property  taxes, 
including  state  and  county  as  well  as  local  taxes,  fre- 
quently amounting  to  from  three  to  five  per  cent  of  the 
capital  value,  would  be  virtually  confiscatory  of  the  in- 
come received.  Obviously,  no  m.an  is  going  to  pay  over 
to  the  government  any  such  proportion  of  the  income  he 
derives  from  property,  as  long  as  there  is  a  way  out. 
The  difficulties  of  administering  the  general  property 
tax,  so  far  as  these  intangible  values  are  concerned,  has 
resulted  in  the  situation  that  only  a  very  negligible  share 
of  the  amount  that  should  be  realized  from  this  source 
has  been  received,  in  spite  of  the  most  strenuous  attempts 
to  force  payment.  The  great  majority  of  holders  of  in- 
tangible property  simply  prefer  to  perjure  themselves,  if 
necessary,  by  swearing  that  they  hold  no  such  prop- 
erty, or  much  less  than  they  actually  do,  before  they 


MUNICIPAL    FINANCES— REVENUES     299 

will  turn  over  the  major  part  of  the  income  from  such 
intangible  property  to  the  city.  This  part  of  the  gen- 
eral property  tax  is,  therefore,  for  purposes  of  local  tax- 
ation, a  flat  failure,  and  worse  than  a  failure,  for  the 
widespread  practice  of  making  fraudulent  returns  with 
regard  to  the  ownership  of  intangibles  is  bound  to  have  a 
detrimental  effect  on  the  attitude  of  all  elements  in  the 
country  with  regard  to  tax-dodging.  Furthermore,  it 
penalizes  the  very  small  number  of  excessively  honest 
people  who  really  make  a  fair  statement  of  their  in- 
tangible holdings. 

The  first  and  fundamental  defect  of  the  general  prop- 
erty tax  is,  therefore,  that  it  does  not  permit  a  legal 
distinction  to  be  made  between  real  and  personal  property, 
which  actuallv  exists,  and  is  made  in  fact.  As  has  been 
seen,  there  is  this  vital  distinction  not  only  between  realty 
on  the  one  hand  and  personalty  on  the  other,  but  also 
between  tangible  and  intangible  personalty.  Distinctions 
should  also  be  made  between  different  kinds  of  realty. 
The  general  property  tax  recognizes  no  distinction  be- 
tween the  land  itself  and  the  buildings  or  improvements 
on  the  land.  It  is  now  coming  to  be  recognized,  how- 
ever, that  it  is  a  wise  policy  to  tax  improvements  on  land 
at  a  lower  rate  than  the  land  itself.  Such  a  policy  tends 
to  discourage  speculative  holding  of  land  and  to  encour- 
age the  improving  of  the  same.  If  vacant  land  is  taxed 
at  full  value,  instead  of  at  a  lower  rate,  as  is  not  infre- 
quently the  case,  and  the  improvements  put  on  it  are 
taxed  at  only  half  of  their  value,  the  rate  of  taxation  on 
the  land  plus  improvements  is  only  seventy-five  per  cent 
of  the  rate  on  the  land  alone,  in  case  the  value  of  the 
improvements  equals  the  value  of  the  land.  This  re- 
duction in  the  percentage  of  the  tax  item  will,  of  course, 
tend  to  encourage  the  productive  use  of  the  property  by 


300  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

the  erection  of  improvements  instead  of  leaving  it  idle. 

The  mention  of  the  discouragement  of  speculation  in 
land  suggests  another  consideration  to  be  discussed  in 
connection  with  the  taxation  of  land.  For  a  long  time 
many  tax  reformers  have  felt  that  the  increase  in  land 
values,  as  a  result  of  the  growth  of  the  city,  is  an  item 
in  which  the  city  is  entitled  to  share  more  than  by  the 
mere  corresponding  increase  in  the  amount  of  the  ordi- 
nary taxes.  As  a  social  question,  it  has  been  vehemently 
maintained  that  this  increase  in  land  values  constitutes 
an  "unearned  increment"  to  which  the  owner  contributes 
nothing,  but  which  is  the  result  of  the  development  of  the 
city,  and  that  society  is  entitled  to  the  increase  therefor. 
It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  many  European  cities 
accomplish  virtually  this  same  result  by  themselves  buy- 
ing the  land  that  will  be  needed  for  future  expansion, 
and  then  realizing  the  unearned  increment  by  leasing  the 
land.  But  if  this  is  a  proper  undertaking,  there  could 
seem  to  be  no  objection  to  accomplishing  the  same  end 
by  requiring  that  the  unearned  increment  be  paid  to  the 
city  in  taxes.  This  is,  in  fact,  being  done  in  many  Euro- 
pean cities  today,  notably  in  Germany,  where  not  the 
whole  of  the  unearned  increment,  but  as  high  as  twenty- 
five  per  cent  of  it,  in  some  cases,  accrues  to  the  benefit 
of  the  city.  Had  this  policy  been  followed  from  the  out- 
set by  our  American  cities,  there  would  have  been  enough 
taxes  to  do  a  great  deal  more  than  has  been  possible 
with  the  returns  from  the  general  property  tax  alone. 

In  this  connection,  it  is  necessary  to  mention  a  develop- 
ment closely  related  to  the  matter  of  the  unearned  incre- 
ment tax  and  commonly  associated  with  it  under  the  name 
of  the  single  tax.  This  far-reaching  doctrine  of  taxation 
rests  on  the  proposition  that  taxes  on  land  should  be  the 
only  taxes,  and  that,  if  properly  administered,  the  fair- 


MUNICirAL    FINANCES— REVENUES     301 

est  system  of  taxation  would  result  from  doing  away 
with  all  other  taxes  but  this  single  tax  on  land.  A  great 
deal  has  been  written  and  said  both  for  and  against  the 
single  tax  as  a  principle  of  taxation  in  general,  and  the 
arguments  cannot  be  reviewed  here.  Whatever  might 
be  its  merits  if  applied  generally  in  national,  state  and 
local  taxes,  it  seems  safe  to  say  that  as  a  local  tax  in 
individual  municipalities  it  would  not  prove  adequate. 
The  single  tax  movement  seems  to  be  gaining  ground, 
however,  and  it  is  possible  that  actual  experiments  with 
the  system  may  prove  it  to  be  superior  to  all  others,  in 
spite  of  theoretical  objections  of  economists. 

The  basis  of  all  fair  taxation  of  land  is,  of  course,  a 
proper  system  of  assessment.  The  fair  and  scientific  val- 
uation of  land  for  purposes  of  taxation  is  an  extremely 
complicated  undertaking  and  one  which  has  been  almost 
uniformly  very  poorly  done  in  all  our  cities.  The  chief 
trouble  here,  of  course,  has  been,  as  in  other  departments 
of  municipal  administration,  that  our  optimistic  democ- 
racy considered  that  any  citizen  who  was  able  to  get  the 
necessary  votes  to  be  elected  as  tax  assessor,  for  in- 
stance, was  if'so  facto  qualified  to  do  that  kind  of  work, 
no  matter  how  ignorant  he  may  have  been  or  how  com- 
plex the  work.  The  practice  of  electing  tax  assessors, 
which  administrative  office  is  still  very  widely  Tilled  by 
popular  election,  had  the  further  serious  drawback  that 
favoritism  in  the  exercise  of  the  office  was  likely  to  be 
profitable  to  the  incumbent,  and,  so,  hard  to  prevent, 
when  practiced  by  an  elective  official.  But  even  absolute 
honesty  was  no  guarantee  of  satisfactory  assessment. 
The  commonest  method  relied  upon  until  comparatively 
recent  times  in  the  great  majority  of  American  cities  was 
to  take  the  statement  of  the  owner,  in  the  first  instance ; 
to  supplement  this  by  a  more  or  less  superficial  examin- 


302  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

ation  of  the  premises  by  the  assessors,  and  to  permit  the 
owner  to  appeal  to  some  board  of  review  if  his  valuation 
had  been  raised  by  the  assessors.  The  opinion  of  the 
owner  as  to  the  value  of  the  land  for  purposes  of  tax- 
ation was,  of  course,  practically  worthless.  Yet  in  many 
cases,  owing  to  lack  of  energy  or  of  a  sufficient  force 
of  assessors,  or,  more  frequently  still,  owing  to  the  fear 
on  the  part  of  the  assessor  of  making  political  enemies, 
this  valuation  was  taken  as  stated,  and  increased  only 
if  a  horizontal  increase  in  the  assessments  was  made  nec- 
essary in  order  to  yield  the  required  amount  at  the  ex- 
isting rate  of  taxation.  Even  if  the  assessors  themselves 
went  back  of  the  statement  of  the  owner  and  attempted 
to  verify  the  valuation,  they  worked  practically  in  the 
dark.  Oftentimes  a  mere  inspection  of  the  building  and 
the  lot  from  the  outside  and  a  glance  into  the  interior 
of  the  building  was  all  that  could  possibly  be  undertaken. 
Such  a  method,  of  course,  merely  substituted  the  ignorant 
opinion  of  the  assessor  for  the  biased  opinion  of  the 
owner.  There  are  so  many  factors  that  enter  into  the 
value  of  a  piece  of  real  property,  that  only  careful  in- 
vestigation can  avoid  the  grossest  errors  and  injustices. 
Not  only  the  size  of  the  lot,  but  its  shape,  location,  sur- 
roundings and  adaptability  for  special  purposes  all  play 
an  impoftant  part  in  its  value.  For  that  reason  real  es- 
tate transfers,  in  the  same  neighborhood  even,  cannot  be 
relied  upon  as  safe  guides.  It  is  obvious  that  only  some 
scientific  system,  based  on  the  observation  and  examina- 
tion of  real  estate  values  in  a  large  number  of  different 
cities  and  carefully  applied  to  the  conditions  in  a  par- 
ticular city,  can  be  of  value  as  a  substitute  for  the 
haphazard  methods  now  of  necessity  employed. 

Fortunately,  several  such  methods  have  been  devised 
and  made  available  within  recent  years.    These  methods 


MUNICIPAL    FINANCES— REVENUES     303 

depend  upon  the  determination  of  a  unit  front  foot  value 
in  each  of  the  four  sides  of  each  city  block.  This  unit 
front  foot  value  represents  the  value  of  a  strip  of  ground 
a  foot  wide  and  extending  back  the  length  of  the  normal 
lot.  The  value  of  this  strip  of  land  in  the  center  of 
each  block  is  determined  by  investigation  of  all  avail- 
able sources  of  information,  chief  among  them  being  the 
opinion  of  real  estate  owners  and  dealers.  After  that  has 
been  determined,  the  assessor  must  take  into  account 
variations  due  to  the  length  of  the  lot,  its  shape  and  its 
location  in  the  block.  For  this  purpose  tables  are  avail- 
able, prepared  as  a  result  of  extended  investigation  in 
many  cities,  which  show  the  average  effect  of  these  fac- 
tors on  the  value  of  land.  Different  tables  are  prepared 
for  the  different  kinds  of  city  property,  business,  whole- 
sale, tenement,  residence,  etc.  It  then  becomes  possible 
to  plot  every  foot  of  ground  in  the  city  on  a  map  showing 
what  its  value  is  supposed  to  be.  Of  course,  as  these 
tables  represent  the  average  results  from  a  large  number 
of  investigations,  they  will  never  exactly  fit  the  condi- 
tions in  a  particular  place  without  a  judicious  allowance 
for  local  peculiarities.  But  while  the  task  of  making  the 
first  comprehensive  valuation  survey  of  the  city  may  be 
beyond  the  capacities  of  local  tax  assessors,  the  applica- 
tion of  such  a  system  and  its  necessary  revision  can 
safely  be  intrusted  to  men  of  average  intelligence  and 
experience.  A  considerable  number  of  American  cities 
have  attacked  the  problem  of  realty  assessment  in  this 
comprehensive  and  scientific  manner,  and  their  testimony 
is  practically  unanimous  that  assessments  under  the  new 
system  are  much  more  equitable  and  yield  more  revenue 
than  under  the  haphazard  system  formerly  employed. 
One  of  the  chief  gains,  from  a  general  civic  point  of  view, 
to  be  derived  from  a  scientific  system  of  assessment  is  that 


304  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

resulting  from  the  changed  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  tax- 
payers themselves.  The  glaring  inequalities  now  found  in 
every  city  under  the  old  system  of  assessment,  many  of 
them  due,  no  doubt,  to  political  favoritism,  but  most  of 
them  merely  the  inevitable  result  of  inefficiency  in  a 
complicated  undertaking,  engender  a  feeling  of  resent- 
ment which  encourages  fraudulent  statements  and  all 
other  devices  for  tax  evasion.  When  every  property 
owner  realizes  that  he  is  paying  his  fair  share  of  taxes, 
no  more,  no  less,  the  task  of  the  taxation  department 
of  the  city  will  be  greatly  lessened  and  the  revenues 
increased. 

The  valuation  of  buildings,  which,  unless  they  are  to 
be  exempted  entirely  from  taxation  under  the  application 
of  the  single  tax  doctrine,  constitute  a  large  share  of  the 
taxable  values  of  cities,  must,  to  be  accurate,  be  entirely 
distinct  from  the  assessment  of  the  land.  Here  such  items 
as  the  cost  of  construction,  cost  of  reproduction,  deterio- 
ration, etc.,  are  more  easily  ascertained  than  is  the  market 
value  of  land,  though  other  factors  involve  the  necessity 
of  using  individual  judgment  to  a  very  large  extent.  But 
even  there  engineering  and  other  tables  are  available, 
which,  if  not  insuring  absolute  accuracy,  that  being  im- 
possible, at  least  represent  a  marked  improvement  over 
existing  methods.  A  separate  tax  map  of  the  city,  show- 
ing the  location  and  value  of  all  buildings  in  the  city, 
is  as  necessary  as  is  the  lot  map. 

The  collection  of  taxes  in  this  country  has  suffered 
from  the  same  defects  of  electing  purely  administrative 
officials  that  have  pervaded  the  whole  of  municipal  ad- 
ministration. Though  cities  have  been  endowed  with 
the  power  of  compelling  tax  payments,  the  amount  of 
delinquent  taxes  in  most  cities  is  much  larger  than  it 
would   be  if   the  collectors   and  the   machinery  of   en- 


MUNICIPAL    FINANCES— REVENUES     305 

forcing  tax  payments  were  not  subject  to  the  political 
influence  of  powerful  delinquents.  A  more  expeditious 
method  of  enforcing  the  tax  lien  against  property  and 
a  greater  security  in  the  title  acquired  at  tax  sales  would 
help  this  end  of  the  taxation  process  considerably. 

Besides  the  general  property  tax,  there  are  other  taxes 
that  yield  something  to  American  cities,  most  of  them  in 
the  nature  of  license  charges.  So  in  cities  where  the  re- 
tail liquor  trade  is  not  forbidden,  the  annual  returns  from 
saloon  licenses  are  not  inconsiderable,  though  usually 
yielding  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  entire  revenue. 
Trade  or  business  taxes  are  found  in  a  number  of  South- 
ern cities  especially,  and  vehicle  taxes,  dog  taxes,  poll 
taxes  and  other  forms  of  license  charges  are  not  uncom- 
mon. At  best,  these  sources  of  revenue  are  relatively 
unimportant  and  cannot  be  regarded  as  presenting  pos- 
sibilities of  increased  revenue  of  sufficient  amount  to 
aid  materially  in  the  solution  of  that  problem.  The  most 
important  single  form  of  direct  taxes  in  German  cities, 
the  income  tax,  is  practically  not  used  by  cities  in  this 
country  at  all.  Theoretically  the  income  tax  would  seem 
to  present  the  ideal  form  of  taxation,  since  an  individual's 
ability  to  pay  is  more  nearly  measured  by  the  income 
he  derives  from  his  activities  and  his  property  than  in 
any  other  way.  Its  success  as  a  local  tax  in  German 
cities  would  seem  to  justify  the  proposal  of  its  more  gen- 
eral application  in  this  country  as  well.  The  danger  of 
adopting  governmental  practices  that  work  well  in  other 
countries  without  considering  their  real  adaptability  to 
different  conditions  is,  however,  well  illustrated  in  this 
case.  Since  a  large  part  of  present-day  income  consists 
of  the  proceeds  of  intangible  property,  it  would  be  just 
as  difficult  to  get  at  the  income  from  the  intangibles  as 
it  is  to  get  at  the  value  of  the  intangibles  themselves,  in 


3o6  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

fact,  more  so.  The  same  inequality,  injustice  and  eva- 
sion would,  therefore,  result,  under  our  system  of  gov- 
ernment, in  the  case  of  the  income  tax,  as  results  under 
the  general  property  tax.  Where  the  system  of  govern- 
mental administration,  particularly  in  the  matter  of  po- 
lice control  and  registration,  is  as  highly  developed  as 
it  is  in  Germany,  the  possibility  of  tax  evasion  is  very 
much  less,  and  such  a  tax  as  the  income  tax,  involving 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  financial  condition  of  every 
individual,  can  be  applied  with  success,  when  in  this  coun- 
try, in  its  present  stage  of  governmental  development, 
it  would  prove  unworkable. 

Another  suggestion  for  an  alternative  to  the  general 
property  tax  is  the  habitation  or  occupation  tax.  This 
tax  is  based  on  the  rental  value  of  land  and  buildings, 
and  is  assumed  to  measure  the  financial  ability  of  the 
individual  by  the  amount  of  rental  he  pays.  In  the  man- 
ner in  which  this  tax  was  long  applied  in  England,  it  had 
the  very  serious  defect  of  encouraging  speculation  in 
unimproved  city  land,  because  an  owner  of  vacant  prop- 
erty could  hold  the  land  idle  for  a  rise  in  values  and 
pay  practically  no  taxes  upon  it.  Though  this  tax  is  sup- 
posed to  fall  upon  the  occupant,  or  tenant,  it  will,  like 
the  tax  on  the  value  of  the  property  itself,  be  borne  by 
the  owner  if  the  supply  of  rentable  property  is  greater 
than  the  demand  for  the  same. 

There  remains  one  other  source  of  taxation  which, 
though  not  very  widely  adopted  in  this  country,  seems  to 
be  becoming  more  and  more  popular.  This  is  the  tax  on 
the  property  of  public  service  corporations.  A  very  effec- 
tive campaign  slogan  for  election  to  the  city  offices  has 
been  developed  on  the  plea  that  these  public  service  cor- 
porations should  be  made  to  pay  a  larger  share  of  the 
city's  taxes.    Just  what  is  the  best  method  of  assessing  a 


MUNICIPAL    FINANCES— REVENUES     307 

tax  against  these  corporations  is  a  matter  of  dispute,  for  it 
presents  peculiar  difficulties.  But  more  fundamental  than 
the  question  of  how,  is  the  question  of  why.  It  has  al- 
ready been  seen  that  if  the  public  service  corporations  of 
the  city  are  properly  regulated,  they  are  entitled  only  to 
a  reasonable  return  on  the  property  invested,  and  that 
taxes  figure  properly  in  the  operating  expenses.  To  tax 
the  public  service  corporations,  therefore,  amounts  to 
taking  money  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  consumers  of 
these  public  necessities  and  relieving  the  general  taxpay- 
ers to  that  extent.  This  is  a  policy  that  is  of  doubtful 
wisdom  because,  as  has  been  pointed  out  several  times, 
charges  for  the  necessities  furnished  by  these  corpora- 
tions, being  uniform,  bear  much  more  heavily  on  the  poor 
than  on  the  well-to-do,  while  taxes  are  supposed  at  least 
to  be  assessed  according  to  ability  to  pay.  It  is  owing  to 
the  general  delusion  that  taxes  on  public  service  corpor- 
ations are  paid  out  of  the  profits  of  the  corporation  in- 
stead of  out  of  the  charges  for  the  service,  which  makes 
this  practice  in  taxation  popular.  In  certain  cases,  it 
is  true,  taxation  of  the  corporation  may  be  about  the  only 
way  of  getting  even  partial  returns  to  the  public  for  ex- 
cessive rates  and  poor  service.  If,  for  instance,  a  cor- 
poration operates  under  a  franchise  which  fixes  the 
rates  of  service,  and  the  kind  of  service  that  is  to  be 
rendered,  but  does  not  give  the  city  power  to  compel  im- 
provements in  the  service  or  reduction  of  rates  to  the 
point  where  the  returns  to  the  corporation  are  reasonable 
and  no  more,  taxation  may  be  resorted  to  to  secure  for 
the  city  some  of  the  excessive  profits  of  the  corporation 
without  prejudice  to  the  rates  and  service  which  the  con- 
sumers would  enjoy  anyway.  As  an  emergency  measure 
of  partial  control,  when  other  instruments  are  not  avail- 
able, taxation  of  public  service  corporations  may  there- 


3o8  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

fore  be  a  proper  source  of  municipal  income.  But  as  a 
source  of  taxation  upon  corporations  which  are  already 
properly  regulated  in  the  interests  of  good  service  and 
low  rates,  it  becomes  a  questionable  policy. 

General  taxation,  as  has  been  said,  is  based  upon  the 
theory  of  contribution  according  to  ability  to  pay,  and  is, 
or  should  be,  a  universal  obligation,  yielding  the  greatest 
part  of  the  public  revenue,  because,  if  properly  applied, 
it  can  be  made  to  bear  equally  on  all  members  of  the 
community.  The  former  conception  of  taxation  on  the 
basis  of  benefit  derived,  though  no  longer  accepted  as  the 
proper  basis  for  imposing  general  taxes,  still  plays  a  con- 
siderable part  in  the  financing  of  public  undertakings 
which  enhance  the  value  of  property  near  the  public  im- 
provement. Under  the  name  of  betterment  taxes  or,  in 
this  country  more  commonly,  special  assessments,  this 
form  of  revenue  constitutes  an  important  part  of  the 
financial  resources  of  the  city  for  undertaking  public 
improvements.  It  seems  a  consideration  of  elemental  jus- 
tice that  if  a  public  improvement,  like  street  paving, 
sewer  construction,  park  location,  etc.,  increases  the  value 
of  private  property  adjoining  the  improvements,  as  it 
virtually  always  does,  such  property  should  be  charged 
with  the  expense  of  the  improvement  to  the  extent  that 
its  value  is  increased.  This  is,  of  course,  in  a  way,  merely 
a  special  and  limited  application  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
unearned  increment  tax,  discussed  above.  The  so-called 
unearned  increment  is  the  increase  in  value  resulting  not 
from  any  particular  undertaking  of  the  city,  but  from 
the  social  and  economic  forces  of  the  city's  population, 
while  the  increase  in  value  resulting  from  public  im- 
provements is  the  consequence  of  a  definite  undertaking 
requiring  the  outlay  of  money.  The  special  assessment 
is  much  simpler  of  application,  therefore,  and  the  fact 


MUNICIPAL    FINANCES— REVENUES     309 

that  it  takes  care  of  an  expense  which  would  otherwise 
be  borne  by  the  general  taxpayers  of  the  city  makes  the 
justice  of  its  application  more  apparent  to  the  general 
public  than  is  the  case  of  increases  in  value  resulting  from 
gradual  developments  not  occasioned  by  the  govern- 
mental action  of  the  city,  and  not  paid  for  out  of  the 
public  treasury.  Consequently,  the  special  assessment  as 
a  means  of  meeting  the  expense  of  improvements  of  this 
kind  is  very  widespread  in  the  cities  of  the  United  States. 
The  basis  of  the  special  assessment  being  the  benefit 
derived  from  the  increased  value  of  adjoining  property 
as  a  result  of  the  improvement,  it  is  obvious  that  the 
amount  which  the  property  can  fairly  be  made  to  pay 
must  not  be  made  to  exceed  the  amount  of  increase  in 
the  value  of  the  property,  and  resort  is  had,  in  the  last 
analysis,  to  the  courts,  if  it  is  claimed  that  the  property  is 
charged  with  more  than  its  increase  in  value.  Generally 
speaking,  however,  if  all  of  the  property  benefited  is 
charged  with  the  amount  of  the  increase  in  value  it  has 
experienced,  most  public  improvements  of  the  kinds  men- 
tioned could  be  paid  for  entirely  out  of  the  special  assess- 
ments, though,  of  course,  there  is  a  great  difference  in 
this  regard  between  various  kinds  of  improvements.  A 
park,  for  instance,  located  in  a  crowded  residence  district, 
will  create  enormous  increases  in  the  desirability  and 
value  of  the  surrounding  property.  A  sewer,  on  the  other 
hand,  though  of  very  expensive  construction,  may  result 
in  but  a  slight  increase  in  the  market  value  of  the  prop- 
erty served.  In  practice,  cities  vary  a  great  deal  with 
regard  to  this  matter.  In  some  cases  cities  obtain  al- 
most the  entire  cost  of  street  construction  from  the  abut- 
ting property.  In  other  cases  they  have  to  pay  a  large 
part  of  the  cost  themselves,  constitutions,  laws  or  charters 
frequently  imposing  a  limitation  as  to  the  amount  of  the 
21 


3IO  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

total  cost  that  may  be  assessed  against  the  adjoining  prop- 
erty. It  is  quite  commonly  argued  that,  since  the  general 
public  uses  a  paved  street  and  benefits  thereby,  a  portion 
of  the  cost  of  construction  should  fall  upon  the  general 
treasury,  an  argument  that  makes  a  ready  appeal  to  real 
property  owners.  But  if  the  special  assessment  leaves  the 
property  owner  with  an  increase  in  the  value  of  his  prop- 
erty which  is  at  least  equal  to  the  amount  he  has  to  pay, 
there  seems  to  be  no  injustice  done,  even  if  the  city  and 
the  general  public  also  benefit.  The  paving  of  a  street 
is  but  the  initial  cost,  and  the  cost  of  repair  is  properly 
charged  upon  the  general  public  which  uses  the  street.  A 
question  arises  with  regard  to  the  proper  distribution  of 
the  cost  of  repaving  the  streets.  It  seems  clear  that  the 
ordinary  repair  of  streets  should  not  be  charged  against 
the  abutting  property,  since  the  value  of  this  property  is 
not  increased  by  such  repair  over  what  it  was  when  it 
was  new,  though  in  some  cities  property  owners  are  so 
charged.  Even  if  an  entirely  new  pavement  becomes 
necessary,  it  cannot  be  claimed  that  the  abutting  prop- 
erty is  enhanced  in  value  as  a  result  of  new  pavement 
over  what  it  was  worth  when  the  old  pavement  was  new, 
the  wear  and  tear  on  the  pavement  being  the  result  of 
general  use.  It  is  true  that  the  property  is  worth  more 
if  the  pavement  in  front  of  it  is  in  good  repair  than  if 
it  is  not,  but  this  difference  in  value  is  represented  by  a 
real  though  possibly  hidden  decrease  in  value  from  the 
time  when  the  pavement  put  in  by  the  property  owner 
was  new.  It  is  only  in  case  a  repaving  results  in  the 
laying  of  a  pavement  which,  by  reason  of  superiority  over 
the  old  pavement  when  new,  makes  the  property  more 
desirable  than  it  would  be  even  with  a  new  pavement 
of  the  former  type,  that  any  increase  in  property  value 
can  be  attributed  to  the  operation  of  repaving.    The  same 


MUNICIPAL    FINANCES— REVENUES     311 

considerations  should  be  operative  in  the  case  of  other 
pubhc  improvements  that  are  paid  for  by  special  assess- 
ment. After  the  initial  cost  of  construction  has  been  met 
by  the  contribution  of  the  increased  realty  values,  fur- 
ther charges  siiould  be  borne  by  the  general  treasury. 

Although  the  increase  in  realty  values  resulting  from 
public  improvements  is  properly  levied  upon  for  the  pay- 
ment of  such  improvements,  such  increase  is  ordinarily 
not  realizable  at  once.  \\  hether  the  increase  is  to  be  real- 
ized in  the  sale  price  of  the  property  or  by  increased 
rent,  it  will  be  some  time  in  actually  being  recovered. 
The  special  assessment  may,  however,  amount  to  a  con- 
siderable sum  and  prove  embarrassing  to  the  owner  of 
the  realty  at  the  particular  time  it  is  assessed.  To  meet 
this  situation,  it  is  common  to  allow  the  owners  of  the 
property  assessed  a  number  of  years  in  which  to  pay  the 
sum  assessed,  paying  interest  meanwhile  at  the  rate  at 
which  the  city  would  have  to  pay  were  it  making  the 
improvement.  If  the  work  is  to  be  done  by  the  city 
directly,  the  method  of  payment  can  more  easily  be  ac- 
commodated to  the  convenience  of  the  owner  than  if  the 
work  is  done  under  contract.  The  advantage  of  having 
this  kind  of  work  done  under  contract,  however,  lies  in 
the  fact  that,  by  making  the  assessment  a  lien  against  the 
property  only  and  not  a  contract  charge  upon  the  city,  the 
city  does  not  need  to  use  its  credit  or  exercise  its  bor- 
rowing power,  both  of  which  are  limited  and  may  be 
needed  for  other  purposes  in  that  direction. 

If  adequate  machinery  for  limiting  the  maximum 
amount  of  special  assessments  levied  against  property  to 
the  actual  increase  in  value  is  provided,  there  would  seem 
to  be  no  need  of  limiting  this  power  of  the  city  by  law  in 
any  other  way.  Yet  cities  are  frequently  prevented  from 
using  this  power  of  public  improvement  by  other  legal 


312  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

restrictions.  For  example,  a  common  provision  of  law 
limits  the  imposition  of  special  assessments  to  the  abut- 
ting property.  In  actual  fact,  however,  a  great  deal  of 
property  is  increased  in  value  as  a  result  of  public  im- 
provements which  is  not  abutting  on  the  improvement 
itself.  A  public  park,  for  example,  enhances  the  value  of 
property  for  a  considerable  distance  from  the  location 
of  the  park,  and  even  a  street  pavement  improves  the 
property  which  is  located  on  cross  streets  near  the  paved 
street.  It  is  apparent  that  if  special  assessments  are 
to  be  borne  by  the  property  benefited,  it  is  not  only  proper, 
but  is  demanded,  in  fairness  to  the  property  owners  af- 
fected, that  all  of  the  property  actually  benefited  and 
not  merely  a  part  of  it  be  compelled  to  contribute. 
Larger  assessment  districts  are  therefore  desirable.  An- 
other common  limitation  requires  the  approval  of  a  ma- 
jority of  the  affected  property  holders  for  a  street  pave- 
ment, for  instance.  If  the  paving  of  a  street,  or  the  loca- 
tion of  a  sewer,  or  the  construction  of  any  other  im- 
provement is  demanded  by  considerations  of  general  con- 
venience or  necessity,  there  is  no  need  or  reason  for  con- 
sulting the  wishes  of  the  afifected  property  owners.  The 
improvement  is  not  undertaken  for  their  benefit  but  for 
that  of  the  public  at  large,  and  they  do  not  suffer  by  it, 
since  their  property  is  enhanced  in  value  by  at  least  as 
much  as  the  amount  they  are  required  to  contribute. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  betterment  tax  or  special 
assessment,  could  and  should  be  used  to  a  much  greater 
extent  than  it  now  is.  It  violates  no  principle  of  equal 
taxation,  and  it  opens  up  the  possibility  of  much  more 
extensive  public  improvements  than  are  ordinarily  pos- 
sible under  the  limitations  on  the  borrowing  power  and 
the  taxing  power  which  will  be  noted  farther  on.  In 
England,  where  the  betterment  tax  had  its  origin,  it  is 


MUNICIPAL    FINANCES— REVENUES     313 

again  being  resorted  to  more  and  more  under  the  in- 
creasingly perplexing  problem  of  getting  sufficient  local 
revenues,  though  for  a  long  time  it  fell  into  disuse  and  is 
even  now  generally  unpopular. 

As  a  means  of  securing  revenue  for  public  improve- 
ments, another  device,  which  has  been  touched  upon 
already  in  another  connection,  must  here  be  referred  to 
again,  namely,  the  power  of  excess  condemnation. 
This  is  virtually  a  device  for  securing  to  the  city  the 
whole  of  the  increase  in  value  of  property  abutting  on 
a  public  improvement,  instead  of  only  a  part  of  it,  as  is 
the  case  under  the  special  assessment  plan.  If  the  city 
is  empowered  to  condemn  not  merely  the  property  actually 
needed  for  a  street  or  park  improvement,  as  is  the  case 
ordinarily  with  American  cities,  but  also  the  property 
immediately  adjoining  it,  as  is  done  in  many  European 
cities,  then  by  paying  the  price  which  the  property  was 
worth  before  the  improvement  was  made  and  obtaining 
the  price  which  it  became  worth  as  a  result  of  the  im- 
provement, the  city  secures  the  entire  increase  in  the 
property  values.  This  plan  has  the  great  advantage  of 
insuring  to  the  city  all  of  the  increase  in  values,  but  it 
presents  some  danger  also.  The  experience  of  American 
cities  seems  to  show  that  in  general  they  are  poor  bar- 
gainers, and  that  whenever  private  property  has  to  be  con- 
demned the  city  pays  a  good  deal  more  than  a  private 
purchaser  would  have  to  pay  for  the  same  land.  In 
that  case,  of  course,  the  city  might  easily  pay  a  bigger 
price  for  the  excess  land  before  the  improvement  is  made 
than  it  could  receive  by  sale  after  the  improvement  is 
finished,  a  disastrous  situation.  It  would  be  desirable, 
therefore,  to  improve  our  method  of  determining  the  com- 
pensation -to  be  paid  for  land  condemned  by  eminent  do- 
main before  this  power  of  excess  condemnation  is  gener- 


314  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

ally  granted.  Furthermore,  the  scheme  has  this  dis- 
advantage, that  the  initial  outlay  for  the  land  condemned 
would  be  greater  and  would  have  to  be  met  by  borrowing 
where  the  city  has  no  special  fund  for  this  purpose, 
and  this  might  involve  the  use  of  greater  borrowing 
power  than  the  city  enjoys,  even  though  the  debt  is  offset 
by  property  which  is  convertible  at  a  higher  price.  The 
remedy  in  this  case,  as  in  other  phases  of  the  borrowing 
activities  of  cities,  to  be  considered  later,  is  to  be  sought 
in  distinguishing  between  debts  incurred  for  improve- 
ments that  are  not  marketable  and  yield  no  money  returns 
and  those  that  are  salable  or  do  produce  an  income. 

Before  turning  to  the  other  two  general  sources  of  mu- 
nicipal revenue,  a  word  must  be  said  about  the  general  lim- 
itations on  the  taxing  power  of  cities.  The  practice  with 
regard  to  American  cities  has  been  to  limit  the  power  of 
cities  greatly  both  as  to  kind  of  taxes  and  the  amount  of 
taxes.  Cities  have  not  been  given  general  powers  of  taxa- 
tion, but  are  limited  to  the  kinds  of  taxes  enumerated,  as 
well  as  in  the  purposes  for  which  taxes  could  be  raised. 
The  total  amount  of  taxes  has  usually  also  been  restricted 
by  constitution  or  by  law  to  a  certain  amount  per  hun- 
dred dollars  of  assessed  property  valuation.  There  are 
not  lacking  those  who  believe  it  is  necessary  to  restrict 
the  taxing  power  of  cities  in  all  of  these  ways.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  are  extreme  advocates  of  home  rule 
who  believe  that  no  limitations  of  any  kind  should  be 
imposed  upon  cities  either  in  the  sort  of  taxes  that  can 
be  imposed  or  in  the  total  amount  of  taxes.  Municipal 
taxation,  they  say,  bears  solely  upon  the  taxpayers  of  the 
city,  and,  being  imposed  by  the  representatives  of  the 
local  taxpayers,  the  regulation  of  the  kinds  and  amounts 
of  these  taxes  can  be  left  to  the  self-interest  of  the  per- 
sons affected. 


MUNICIPAL    FINANCES— REVENUES     315 

Theoretically,  this  latter  contention  would  seem  to  be 
sound,  but  in  practice  the  alleged  safeguards  against  ex- 
travagance have  not  worked  out  effectively.  This  has 
been  due  principally,  of  course,  to  the  fact  that  our  city 
councils,  which  impose  the  taxes,  have  in  many  cases  acted 
in  disregard  of  the  city  electorate  in  the  matter  of  tax- 
ation, just  as  in  other  matters  of  municipal  concern. 
Log-rolling  in  appropriations  has  been  as  characteristic 
of  city  councils  as  of  the  national  legislature,  and  the 
pork-barrel  has  resulted  in  similar  extravagance  and  in- 
creased cost  of  government,  necessitating  much  higher 
taxes  than  the  legitimate  expenditures  of  the  city  would 
have  required.  But  there  is  still  another  reason  for  the 
failure  of  the  automatic  checks  on  extravagance  that 
might  be  expected  through  the  control  of  the  taxpayers 
over  the  council.  Municipal  taxes  in  this  country  are 
derived,  as  has  been  seen,  from  the  general  property  tax. 
This,  it  has  been  shown,  has  worked  out  to  be  virtually 
a  tax  on  real  property  alone.  Only  real  property  owners 
are,  therefore,  direct  taxpayers,  and  the  owners  of  real 
property  in  modern  cities  are  almost  always  but  a  small 
minority  of  the  voters,  and  very  frequently  but  a  very 
small  per  cent  of  the  electorate.  Now,  although  every 
member  of  the  community  indirectly  shares  in  the  burden 
of  taxation,  even  when  assessed  directly  only  upon  real 
estate,  since  rents  and  the  price  of  all  articles  of  trade 
and  consumption  are  affected  by  it,  yet  it  is  well  known 
that  the  person  who  thus  contributes  indirectly  feels  the 
burden  much  less  strongly  than  the  one  who  himself  pays 
the  money  to  the  collector.  The  great  majority  of  people 
in  every  city  are  therefore  but  dimly  aware  of  the  bur- 
den of  taxation,  if  at  all,  and  are  consequently  not  much 
concerned  about  exerting  influence  on  the  council  to  spend 
the  public  money  wisely  and  with  moderation. 


3i6  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

If  it  be  granted  that  the  local  political  checks  on  ex- 
travagance in  the  cities  do  not  prove  very  effective,  it  still 
remains  to  show  why  the  state  should  be  concerned.    The 
interest  of  the  state  is  obvious.     In  the  first  place,   a 
city  may  bring  itself  into  insolvency,  which  necessitates 
state  action,  and  may  require  direct  state  administration 
in  order  to  put  the  municipality  in  a  position  where  it 
can  perform  the  functions  in  which  the  state  is  directly 
interested,  such  as  police  protection,   education,   public 
health,  etc.    In  the  second  place,  the  state  as  well  as  the 
city  requires  revenues,  and  state  taxes  are  mounting  each 
year  as  well  as  municipal  taxes.     If  the  city  is  given  a 
free  hand  as  to  the  objects  of  taxation  and  the  amount 
of,  taxes,  the  taxing  power  of  the  state  may  be  seriously 
interfered  with.    There  is  a  limit  beyond  which  a  certain 
kind  of  taxation  cannot  go,  a  point  of  diminishing  returns 
at  which  a  given  source  of  revenue  may  be  exhausted. 
For  that  reason,  it  becomes  necessary  to  divide  up  the 
field  somewhat,  leaving  certain  sources  of  revenue  to  the 
state  and  certain  others  to  the  city.    This  cannot  be  done 
if  each  city  is  free  to  go  its  own  way,  and  hence  some 
uniform  regulation  is  required  as  to  the  objects  of  taxa- 
tion.    Certain  taxes,  furthermore,  can  more  easily  and 
fairly  be  assessed  by  the  state  than  by  the  cities,  such  as 
corporation  taxes,  for  instance,  and  taxes  on  mortgages, 
which  are  very  likely  to  be  subjected  to  double  or  mul- 
tiple taxation  if  cities  are  left  free  to  treat  them  as  they 
see  fit.    For  these  reasons  it  seems  evident  that  some  sort 
of  legislative  regulation  of  the  exercise  of  the  taxing 
power  as  regards  the  character  of  the  taxation  is  required. 
The  greatest  possible  latitude  consistent  with  conserving 
the  interests  of  the  state  should  be  allowed  in  this  regard, 
however,  for  a  good  deal  of  experimentation  will  be  nec- 
essary before  the  actual  working  out  of  tax  schemes  that 


MUNICIPAL    FINANCES— REVENUES     317 

seem  satisfactory  in  theory  can  be  demonstrated.  Experi- 
mentation is  safer  and  more  likely  to  occur  in  individual 
cities  than  in  the  state  at  large,  and  must  therefore  be 
encouraged  by  a  liberal  amount  of  choice. 

The  amount  of  taxation  is  also  a  matter  to  be  regulated 
by  the  state  in  its  own  interests,  but  it  is  not  a  matter 
which  is  adapted  to  legislative  regulation.  To  establish 
arbitrarily  a  maximum  amount  by  law  or,  worse  yet,  by 
constitutional  provision,  as  is  commonly  done,  is  to  ignore 
the  enormous  differences  that  exist  in  cities.  Whether  a 
tax  rate  of  five  dollars  on  the  hundred  dollars  of  assessed 
valuation  is  too  high,  or  whether  a  higher  rate  should 
be  allowed,  cannot  be  answered  for  all  cities  alike.  There 
are  many  factors  that  enter  into  the  determination  of  this 
question,  factors  that  may  point  one  way  in  the  case  of 
one  city  and  the  opposite  way  in  the  case  of  another.  The 
purpose  for  which  the  increase  is  needed,  whether  for  a 
necessity  or  a  luxury,  whether  for  an  emergency  or  for 
a  continuing  need,  the  general  financial  condition  of  the 
city,  the  rate  at  which  property  values  are  increasing,  etc., 
all  have  a  bearing  on  the  question.  These  factors  must 
therefore  be  given  individual  consideration  for  each  city, 
and  that  is  an  administrative,  not  a  legislative  function. 
A  state  board  or  commission,  therefore,  and  not  the 
state  legislature,  is  the  proper  body  for  exercising 
limitations  on  the  amount  of  taxation  that  cities  can 
employ. 

The  second  class  of  revenues  for  cities  is  that  derived 
from  income-producing  property  belonging  to  the  city. 
The  chief  sources  of  this  revenue  are  the  public  utilities 
owned  and  operated  by  cities.  As  has  been  seen,  a  much 
larger  share  of  municipal  revenue  comes  from  such  un- 
dertakings in  European  cities,  notably  those  of  Germany 
and    England,   than   in   American   cities.     The  growing 


3i8  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

burden  of  direct  taxation  is  driving  many  English  cities 
into  municipal  trading,  as  it  is  called,  not  only  in  the 
field  of  public  utilities,  as  commonly  understood,  but  also 
into  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  such  commodities  as  are 
profitable    by-products    of    utility    undertakings.      The 
doubtful  policy  of  turning  to  public  utility  operation  with 
the  object  of  financial  profit  primarily  in  view  has  al- 
ready been  dwelt  upon  in  more  than  one  place.     Tempt- 
ing as  is  this  avenue  of  escape  from  the  necessity  of 
increasing  still   further  the  burden  of   direct  taxation, 
there  is  nothing  that  can  be  said  for  the  policy  of  a  city 
dealing  in  public  necessities  on  the  principle   followed 
by  the  private  corporation  of  giving  as  poor  service  as 
possible  and  charging  high  rates.    This  much  can  be  said 
in  favor  of  a  policy  of  managing  a  public  utility  in  such 
a  way  as  to  yield  a  reasonable  profit  to  the  treasury  over 
and  above  all  expenses  of  operation,  that  the  consumers 
are  charged  no  more  than  they  would  have  to  pay  if  the 
utility  were  operated  privately  under  the  best  kind  of 
regulation.     But  to  attempt  to  get  larger  returns  than 
that  is  little  short  of  a  social  crime,  no  matter  how  much 
the  city  treasury  may  need  the  money.     On  the  other 
hand,  the  policy  of  engaging  in  the  manufacture  of  prof- 
itable by-products  which  are  not  necessities  and  do  not 
come  under  the  head  of  public  utihty  undertakings,  if 
efficiently  carried  out,  has  the  merit  of  yielding  much- 
needed    revenue    without    imposing    a    disproportionate 
financial  burden  on  those  who  are  least  able  to  bear  it. 
If  the  city,  however,  goes  into  other  commercial  activities 
not  affected  with  a  public  interest,  for  the  purpose  of 
making  profits  in  competition  with  private  enterprises, 
it  is  embarking  upon  a  very  dangerous  course.     With 
the  possibiUty  of   success  must  also  be  considered  the 
possibility  of  failure,  which  would  leave  the  city  in  a 


MUNICIPAL    FINANCES— REVENUES     319 

worse  financial  jjosition  tlian  before,  and  certainly,  in 
this  country,  cities  have  as  yet  given  no  very  good  evi- 
dence of  ability  to  compete  successfully  in  business  ad- 
ministration with  private  concerns.  It  seems,  therefore, 
that  profits  from  public  utility  operations  are  not  to  be 
looked  to  as  possibilities  of  great  financial  returns,  the 
maximum  net  income  to  be  derived  from  such  under- 
takings being  properly  limited  to  a  reasonable  profit  on 
the  capital  invested. 

Next  to  public  utilities,  the  commonest  source  of  in- 
come-yielding property  owned  by  cities  is  productive  real 
estate.  American  cities,  it  is  true,  derive  but  a  negli- 
gible income  from  that  source,  cities  rarely  having  the 
power  to  acquire  or  keep  property  not  actually  needed  for 
a  public  purpose.  But  European  cities,  especially  those 
of  Germany,  have  entered  upon  the  plan  of  acquiring  real 
estate  both  within  and  without  their  limits  to  a  large 
extent.  The  justification  for  this  poHcy  is  not  merely 
financial,  it  is  very  largely  social.  If  the  city  owns  the 
property  itself  it  can  direct  the  proper  development  of 
the  city,  can  establish  zones,  regulate  housing  and  ac- 
complish generally  the  social  features  of  city  planning 
in  a  way  that  is  not  possible  by  any  kind  of  governmental 
regulation.  On  the  financial  side,  furthermore,  the  policy 
of  buying  real  estate  at  low  values  and  leasing  it  at  in- 
creasing rent  has  the  merit  of  securing  for  the  commu- 
nity the  benefit  of  the  unearned  increment,  that  is,  the 
increase  in  realty  values  resulting  from  the  growth  of  the 
community.  This  is  a  measure  of  social  justice  as  well 
as  a  very  profitable  source  of  additional  income.  Here 
again,  however,  the  condition  of  success  is  careful  and 
expert  administration,  a  requirement  that  is  generally  met 
in  German  cities  but  rarely  in  those  of  the  United  States. 
What  proves,  therefore,  a  very  desirable  measure  there, 


320  MUNICIPAL    FUNCTIONS 

will  need  to  be  carefully  safeguarded  here  if  it  is  not  to 
be  productive  of  as  much  harm  as  evil. 

The  third  main  group  of  sources  of  municipal  revenue 
comprises  subventions  from  the  state  governments.  This 
source  of  income,  like  the  one  just  considered,  is  very 
much  more  important  in  European  cities  than  it  is  in 
American  cities.  In  German  cities  the  state  subventions 
for  various  local  purposes  constitute  as  much  as  one-fifth 
of  the  entire  available  revenues  of  the  cities,  and  even  in 
England  the  policy  of  state  aid  provides  as  much  as  one- 
sixth  of  the  municipal  income.  In  many  American  cities 
there  is  practically  no  state  aid,  and  in  those  states  in 
which  aid  is  granted  only  a  very  small  share  of  the  city's 
revenues  come  from  that  source,  usually  being  in  the 
nature  of  grants  for  public  school  expenses.  It  has  been 
suggested  in  another  place  that,  since  a  great  many  of  the 
activities  of  cities  are  of  almost  as  much  direct  interest 
to  the  state  as  to  the  city  itself,  there  would  seem  to  be  a 
prima  facie  case  in  favor  of  having  the  state  contribute 
to  the  expense  of  these  undertakings.  For  instance,  the 
police  force  of  a  city,  as  has  been  seen,  is  engaged  quite 
as  much  in  enforcing  state  laws  as  it  is  in  enforcing  local 
ordinances.  Why,  then,  should  not  the  state  contribute 
its  share  toward  the  preservation  of  the  laws  of  the 
state?  If  the  state  were  nothing  but  the  aggregate  of  its 
cities,  it  would  simply  be  taking  money  out  of  one  pocket 
and  putting  it  into  another  to  have  the  state  aid  In  the  sup- 
port of  the  city  police  force.  But  most  of  our  states  are 
less  than  fifty  per  cent  urban,  and  many  of  them  are  much 
less  than  that.  To  have  the  state  contribute  toward 
the  expense  of  enforcing  state  laws  in  the  cities  shifts 
a  portion  of  the  amount  of  these  grants  on  the  rural 
population,  who  are  as  much  citizens  of  the  state  as  are 
the  urbanites,  and  who  have  some  interest  in  the  general 


MUNICIPAL    FINANCES— REVENUES     321 

enforcement  of  the  law  both  in  anfl  out  of  the  cities.  The 
existence  of  such  an  interest  is  perhaps  best  shown  by 
the  practice  of  legislatures,  made  up  largely  of  rural  rep- 
resentatives, in  passing  laws  intended  to  regulate  the 
conduct  of  city  dwellers  in  a  variety  of  ways.  It  is  only 
justice,  therefore,  to  make  the  state,  as  a  whole,  contribute 
to  the  cost  of  such  municipal  activities  as  police  protec- 
tion, education,  public  health  and  the  others  that  have  a 
direct  importance  for  the  state  as  a  whole. 

Of  course,  the  proposal  to  have  the  state  contribute 
to  municipal  undertakings,  on  the  ground  that  the  state 
is  concerned  in  their  proper  performance  and  benefits 
thereby,  carries  with  it  the  corollary  that  the  state  shall 
be  in  a  position  to  see  that  the  money  so  granted  is  wisely 
spent,  which  means  a  certain  measure  of  state  control. 
The  difficulty  immediately  arises  as  to  how  great  a  meas- 
ure of  interference  the  state  may  properly  claim  on  the 
score  that  it  is  contributing  to  the  expenses  of  the  under- 
taking. In  matters  of  mutual  concern  it  is  no  more 
desirable  that  the  state  should  have  tiie  entire  say  than 
that  the  city  should  have  it,  but  the  trouble  lies  in  pro- 
viding for  the  exercise  of  a  concurrent  jurisdiction.  In 
French  and  German  cities  the  central  government  exer- 
cises virtually  a  determining  influence  in  these  matters, 
including,  among  other  things,  public  health  activities, 
police  administration  particularly  being  treated  as  though 
it  were  almost  wholly  a  state  function  imposed  upon 
municipalities  for  convenience.  Somewhat  the  same 
situation  exists,  however,  with  regard  to  public  educa- 
tion. In  England,  public  health  and  public  education 
are  also  under  careful  central  supervision,  and  this  is 
especially  true  of  poor  rehef.  As  great  a  measure  of 
central  control  as  is  found  in  these  cases  would  probably 
fail  to  appeal  to  the  American  point  of  view  and  could 


322  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

probably  not  be  put  into  effect  even  if  state  administra- 
tion were  on  a  much  higher  plane  than  it  commonly  is. 
But  a  practice  which  is  applied  in  England  with  regard 
to  police  administration  seems  to  promise  more  likeli- 
hood of  being  adopted  in  this  country  and  of  accomplish- 
ing in  a  measure  the  purposes  of  central  control,  that  is, 
the  practice  of  making  the  grant  of  the  state  subventions 
to  municipalities  for  police  purposes  dependent  on  the 
maintenance  of  certain  minimum  standards  of  efficiency 
by  the  city.  In  this  way  the  state  can  exert  a  strong 
influence  in  directing  developments  in  these  activities 
without  actually  having  the  power  to  give  orders  or  in- 
terfere with  management.  Should  a  city  find  the  state 
influence  a  bar  to  progress,  it  would  have  the  alternative 
of  following  its  own  inclinations  and  giving  up  the  state 
subvention.  There  would  seem  to  be  no  objection  to 
the  widespread  adoption  of  such  a  device  which  relieves 
the  cities  of  some  of  the  burden  of  administering  matters 
of  interest  to  the  state,  and  yet  gives  the  state  some 
assurance  that  its  contributions  will  be  spent  with  refer- 
ence to  the  interests  it  seeks  to  conserve. 

Speaking  generally,  therefore,  the  greatest  possibilities 
of  meeting  the  problem  of  increased  revenues  for  cities 
in  this  country  seem  to  lie  in  the  direction  of  improved 
methods  of  taxation  and  a  larger  measure  of  state  aid, 
with  the  prospect  of  developing  the  other  sources 
of  income  considerably  beyond  their  present  position  as 
the  machinery  and  practice  of  municipal  administration 
in  this  country  become  more  efficient.  As  a  necessary 
step  in  this  direction,  constitutional  and  legislative  re- 
strictions will  have  to  be  removed,  scientific  principles 
of  taxation  established,  and  the  necessary  supervision  of 
local  taxation  exercised  through  administrative  authori- 
ties of  the  states. 


CHAPTER    XII 

MUNICIPAL    FINANCES — DEBTS,    BUDGET   AND   ACCOUNTING 

In  the  chapter  on  municipal  revenues  no  mention  was 
made  of  one  very  important  method  of  getting  the  money 
necessary  to  do  the  work  of  the  city,  namely,  by  borrow- 
ing it.  A  great  deal  of  money  is  obtained  by  cities,  and, 
as  will  be  seen,  properly  obtained,  by  the  process  of  bor- 
rowing it  on  the  credit  of  the  city,  and  this  constitutes 
a  very  material  part  of  the  sources  of  municipal  revenue. 
But  since  the  money  so  borrowed  has  to  be  repaid,  and 
interest  has  to  be  paid  on  it  until  it  is  repaid,  these  debts 
are  also  a  source  of  municipal  expenditure.  Conse- 
quently municipal  debts  are  not  properly  to  be  regarded 
either  as  purely  sources  of  revenue  or  of  expenditure, 
but  fall  between  these  two  phases  of  municipal  finance 
and  must  be  separately  considered. 

The  first  fact  to  be  noted  with  regard  to  municipal 
indebtedness,  and  one  that  because  of  its  patency  is  fre- 
(|uently  emphasized,  is  the  startling  rate  at  which  mu- 
nicipal indebtedness  has  been  increasing.  Not  only  is  the 
total  amount  of  indebtedness  increasing  from  year  to 
year  in  all  cities,  but  the  relative  amount,  whether  com- 
pared with  the  increase  in  population,  with  increases  in 
assessed  valuation  of  property  in  the  city,  or  with  the 
increase  in  revenues.     This  increase  is  popularly  viewed 

323 


324  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

with  great  alarm,  as  an  indication  that  cities  are  being 
carried  along  irresistibly  toward  bankruptcy,  and  some- 
thing must  be  done  to  stop  the  ruinous  course.  In  this 
country  particularly  the  "outs"  in  politics  find  an  easy 
and  successful  avenue  of  attack  against  city  administra- 
tions on  the  charge  that  the  indebtedness  of  the  city  has 
been  increased  by  the  extravagance  of  those  that  are 
"in."  The  situation  is  serious  enough,  as  will  appear, 
even  when  stripped  of  misleading  aspects.  At  the  same 
time  it  is  necessary  to  point  out,  in  the  beginning,  that 
the  figures  adduced  are  usually  misleading  and  the  con- 
clusions reached  generally  unsound  because  of  the  failure 
to  make  certain  necessary  distinctions. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  a  considerable  number  of 
persons  who  seem  to  think  that  all  municipal  indebted- 
ness, like  individual  indebtedness,  is  improper  and  that 
cities,  like  individuals,  should  pay  for  what  they  get  as 
they  get  it,  instead  of  running  into  debt.  The  question 
therefore  arises:  Is  municipal  indebtedness  necessary  or 
desirable,  and,  if  so,  why?  A  moment's  consideration  is 
sufficient  to  show  that,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  situation 
objected  to  is  both  necessary  and  desirable.  With  regard 
to  all  current  expenses  of  municipal  administration,  it  is 
true  that  the  policy  of  pay  as  you  go  is  the  only  proper 
one,  though  unfortunately,  even  in  that  case,  it  has  not 
been  applied  and  cities  have  improperly  borrowed  money 
from  year  to  year,  or  even  for  a  period  of  years,  to  meet 
such  expenses.  But  with  regard  to  permanent  public 
improvements  and  public  works  the  situation  is  quite 
different.  It  has  been  seen  that  a  great  many  public 
improvements,  such  as  street  construction,  the  laying  out 
of  parks,  the  building  of  sewers,  can  be  paid  for  by  the 
owners  of  property  which  has  increased  in  value  by  the 
amount  of  the  cost  of  the  undertaking  as  a  result  of  the 


DEBTS,    BUDGET   AND    ACCOUNTING     325 

improvement.  But  there  are  many  other  necessary  public 
works  and  improvements  whicli  cannot  be  so  financed 
because  there  has  been  no  corresponding  increase  in 
adjoining  property  vahies.  The  erection  of  a  city  hall, 
of  schools  and  fire  stations,  of  public  libraries  and  like 
structures  does  not  usually  result  in  a  very  great  increase 
of  property  values  adjoining,  while  other  structures,  such 
as  sewage  or  garbage  disposal  works,  jails,  etc.,  actually 
decrease  the  value  of  adjoining  property.  The  expense 
of  such  undertakings  must  consequently  be  met  by  the 
city  itself.  Frequently  the  cost  of  constructing  such  works 
runs  into  the  thousands,  hundreds  of  thousands  or  even 
millions  of  dollars.  To  pay  for  their  construction  in 
cash  would  obviously,  in  many  cases,  be  quite  impossible 
since  the  special  tax  that  would  be  necessary  to  meet  this 
expense  would  impose  too  serious  a  burden  and  would  in 
many  cases  be  unavailable  because  exceeding  the  consti- 
tutional or  statutory  tax  rate.  Even  were  there  no  prac- 
tical or  legal  objections  to  meeting  the  expense  by  a 
special  tax  levy,  there  are  considerations  of  justice  to 
be  kept  in  mind.  A  public  improvement  of  the  kind 
mentioned  is  not,  as  in  the  case  of  supplies  used  by  the 
city,  for  instance,  consumed  or  used  up  in  a  single  year 
or  even  in  a  few  years.  It  is  built  to  last  ten,  twenty  or 
even  fifty  years,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  its  use  is  par- 
ticipated in  not  merely  by  the  taxpayers  and  citizens  of  a 
given  year,  but  it  may  be  even  by  the  next  generation. 
Common  sense  and  justice,  therefore,  demand  that  the 
burden  of  paying  for  an  improvement  which  serves  the 
city  for  many  years  should  be  distributed  over  the  period 
of  time  during  which  it  renders  service.  This  can  be 
done  only  by  borrowing  the  money  necessary  to  pay  for 
the  construction  of  the  improvement  and  then  distribut- 
ing the  payment  of  the  interest  and  the  principal  of  the 
23 


326  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

debt  over  a  number  of  years  corresponding  to  the  period 
of  usefulness  of  the  improvement.  So  far  from  being 
impolitic,  therefore,  the  incurrence  of  debts  for  this  pur- 
pose is  a  wise  policy  of  municipal  finance  and  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  in  order  to  enable  cities  to  construct 
those  public  works  which,  like  waterworks,  are  essential 
but  may  be  very  expensive.  There  is,  of  course,  a  limit 
beyond  which  it  would  not  be  expedient  to  go  even  for 
such  undertakings,  and  under  the  proper  safeguards  as 
to  the  term  of  the  debt  and  the  manner  of  providing  for 
its  liquidation,  a  matter  that  will  be  considered  a  little 
later,  since  the  cost  has  to  be  met  out  of  the  revenues  of 
the  city,  and  those,  as  has  been  seen,  are  not  unlimited. 
But  as  between  the  increase  in  taxation  due  to  increased 
current  expenditures,  such  as  salaries  or  new  activities, 
for  instance,  and  increase  in  taxation  for  meeting  interest 
and  a  portion  of  the  principal  of  a  debt  for  a  permanent 
improvement,  it  is  simply  a  question  of  relative  need,  not 
one  of  sound  finance  administration,  as  seems  to  be  com- 
monly believed. 

Permanent  improvements,  themselves,  may  properly  be 
divided  into  several  categories  which  differ  among  them- 
selves as  to  the  effect  of  the  indebtedness  incurred  for 
them  on  the  financial  condition  of  the  city.  The  first 
class  of  improvements  are  those  which,  like  most  of  those 
mentioned  above,  are  a  public  service  and  nothing  more ; 
that  is,  the  improvement  represents  a  service  value  to 
the  community  but  is  not  a  financial  asset.  Such,  for 
instance,  are  school  buildings.  They  not  only  yield  no 
income  of  any  kind,  but  are  not  marketable,  and  do  not 
therefore  represent  anything  in  the  nature  of  real  capital 
value.  The  investment  in  such  improvements  is  there- 
fore realizable  in  service  only.  Next  there  are  improve- 
ments which,  though  not  yielding  a  revenue,  have  a  mar- 


DEBTS,    BUDGET    AND   ACCOUNTING    127 

ketable  value  which  is  to  that  extent  an  asset.  Such, 
for  instance,  arc  lands  acquired  by  eminent  domain 
proceedings  under  a  power  of  excess  condemnation. 
Although  the  city  may  have  had  to  incur  indebtedness  in 
order  to  get  the  money  to  pay  for  this  excess  land,  the 
market  value  of  the  land  is  realizable  by  sale.  Obviously 
such  value  ofifsets  to  that  extent  the  amount  of  indebted- 
ness incurred  for  it,  and  the  city,  though  more  in  debt, 
has  assets  to  offset  what  is  only  an  apparent,  not  a  real, 
liability.  To  a  certain  extent,  much  of  the  land  owned 
by  the  city  has  a  potential  value,  if  it  is  no  longer  to  be 
used  for  a  public  purpose,  which  may  properly  be  con- 
sidered under  the  head  of  assets,  offsetting  to  a  limited 
extent  the  obligation  incurred  in  buying  it.  So,  for  in- 
stance, a  city  may  own  a  large  amount  of  land  for  a 
sewage  farm,  which  was  bought  with  money  borrowed 
for  that  purpose.  If  the  city  later  finds  that  the  septic 
tank  process  or  some  other  form  of  sewage  disposal  re- 
quiring but  very  little  land  is  more  satisfactory,  the 
sewage  acreage  represents  a  realizable  asset  which  may 
more  than  offset  the  original  indebtedness  incurred  for 
its  purchase.  But  much  the  greater  part  of  the  land 
owned  by  American  cities  is  not  a  financial  asset  which 
can  be  balanced  against  the  indebtedness,  for  it  is  adapted 
only  to  use  for  public  purposes.  So,  for  instance,  streets 
and  parks  represent  dedications  of  land  to  non-profitable 
public  purposes  which  are  practically  permanent. 

A  third  class  of  municipal  improvements  which,  though 
necessitating  the  incurrence  of  debts,  does  not  represent 
a  net  increase  of  liability  of  that  amount  is  the  erection 
or  purchase  of  public  utility  income-yielding  plants.  In- 
terest and  principal  repayments  are  properly  chargeable 
to  the  cost  of  service  of  such  utilities  and  should  not, 
therefore,  appear  as  burdens  upon  the  other  revenues  of 


328  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

the  city.  Even  if  the  plants  themselves  should  prove  to 
have  only  a  relatively  slight  marketable  value  as  com- 
pared with  their  cost,  should  the  city  decide  to  turn  them 
over  to  private  enterprise  when  the  indebtedness  has  all 
been  paid  out  of  the  earnings  of  the  undertaking,  yet  no 
real  financial  burden  has  been  imposed  upon  the  city  by 
the  borrowing  of  money  for  that  purpose.  It  may  easily 
be  the  case,  therefore,  that  a  city  is  financially  better  off 
as  a  result  of  borrowing  money  for  such  productive 
enterprises  than  it  would  have  been  if  it  had  not  done 
so,  and  that  a  city  with  ten  million  dollars  indebtedness, 
eight  million  of  which  were  put  into  the  construction  or 
purchase  of  income-yielding  utilities,  is  financially  much 
better  off  than  is  a  city  with  three  million  dollars  in- 
debtedness, all  of  which  has  gone  into  improvements 
which  yield  no  income  and  have  no  marketable  value. 

The  measure  of  the  financial  condition  of  a  city  is  by 
no  means,  therefore,  the  amount  of  indebtedness,  but  the 
kind  of  indebtedness.  The  seriousness  of  the  enormous 
debts  owed  by  American  cities  arises,  in  fact,  not  so 
much  from  the  increased  use  of  the  borrowing  power,  but 
from  the  improper  use.  As  has  already  been  stated,  to 
borrow  money  for  current  expenses  is  simply  to  pass  on 
to  next  year's  taxpayers  the  cost  of  benefits  which  are 
already  used  up  and  gone,  and  represents  the  most 
despicable  sort  of  public  finance,  for  its  tolerance  rests 
upon  tlie  natural  human  desire  to  pass  one's  obligations 
on  to  someone  else,  or  to  put  them  off  to  a  future  time 
for  settlement.  If  a  city  of  a  hundred  thousand  people 
has  a  million  dollars  of  annual  current  expense,  it  would 
require  a  yearly  tax  rate  of  ten  dollars  for  every  man, 
woman  and  child  in  it.  If,  instead  of  levying  that  rate 
for  meeting  the  expenses,  the  city  authorities  borrow  a 
million  dollars,  the  immediate  obligation  of  the  city  is 


DEBTS,    BUDGET    AND   ACCOUNTING    329 

only  the  interest  payment,  which  at  five  per  cent  would 
necessitate  a  tax  levy  of  fifty  cents  per  head  of  popula- 
tion instead  of  ten  dollars.  Small  wonder  that  so  tempt- 
ing a  method  of  meeting  financial  problems  was  so  widely 
practiced  in  this  country,  before  measures  were  adopted 
to  prevent  it.  Even  if  a  portion  of  the  capital  were  re- 
paid or  set  aside  each  year  so  that  the  bonds  could  be 
met  at  maturity,  the  tax  rate  would  be  greatly  below  the 
ten-dollar  amount  necessary  to  meet  the  current  expenses 
in  tiiat  way.  Each  year  of  such  finance  administration 
piled  up  an  ever-mounting  inverted  pyramid  of  payment 
until  bankruptcy  was  the  only  way  out. 

Next  to  paying  current  charges  with  borrowed  money, 
one  of  the  commonest  abuses  of  the  borrowing  power  of 
American  cities  has  been  the  practice  of  borrowing  the 
money  necessary  for  a  public  improvement  for  a  term 
of  years  extending  clear  beyond  the  period  of  usefulness 
of  the  improvement.  The  theory  that  successive  users  of 
a  public  benefit  should  contribute  their  fair  amount  of 
the  cost  of  such  improvement  instead  of  saddling  it  all 
nn  the  taxpayers  of  the  year  in  which  it  was  constructed, 
has  been  perverted  into  making  successive  taxpayers  pay 
for  a  public  improvement  which  has  disappeared  and  is 
no  longer  of  use  or  benefit  to  anyone.  The  effect  here 
is  just  the  same  as  it  was  when  current  expenses  are  met 
by  borrowing  money,  and  the  temi)tation  is  almost  as 
strong.  Another  fundamental  principle  for  the  exercise 
of  the  municipal  borrowing  power,  is  therefore,  that  ar- 
rangements must  be  made  that  the  i)rincipal  of  the  debt 
shall  have  been  paid  off  within  the  period  of  usefulness 
of  the  public  improvement. 

A  third  defect  in  much  of  the  debt  administration  of 
American  cities  has  been  found  in  the  failure  to  make 
provision  for  meeting  the  principal  of  the  loan  when  it 


330  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

becomes  due.  The  failure  to  pay  interest  on  a  debt  would 
result  in  judicial  proceedings  at  once  on  the  part  of  the 
city's  creditors,  hence  the  interest  payments  had  to  be 
taken  care  of.  But  the  principal,  if  it  did  not  have  to 
be  repaid  until  at  the  end  of  a  long  period  of  years, 
might  be  ignored  without  immediately  disastrous  results. 
Even  at  maturity  there  was  always  the  expedient  of  bor- 
rowing more  money  to  pay  the  obligations  then  due,  and 
so  the  necessary  steps  for  meeting  the  principal  were  fre- 
quently ignored,  resulting  in  an  alarming  increase  of  in- 
debtedness with  no  way  of  diminishing  it.  A  funda- 
mental part  of  the  debt  administration  of  cities  is  there- 
fore the  proper  provision  for  repayment  of  the  principal. 
The  best  way  to  provide  for  this  will  be  taken  up  under 
the  consideration  of  municipal  bonds. 

Municipalities  may  get  into  debt  in  two  general  ways. 
They  may  fail  to  meet  obligations  for  services  or  mate- 
rials or  damages  in  suits  when  they  become  due,  or  they 
may  borrow  money  outright  for  public  purposes.  The 
first  kind  of  indebtedness  is  commonly  called  the  floating 
debt,  there  being  no  special  provision  made  for  meeting 
it.  Such  debts  are  frequently  carried  on  from  year  to 
year  until  resort  is  had  to  borrowing  money  for  meet- 
ing the  obligation.  The  evils  of  this  sort  of  finance 
have  already  been  discussed.  There  is  no  excuse  for  a 
city's  carrying  this  kind  of  indebtedness  beyond  the  time 
of  the  next  tax  levy,  never  more  than  a  year,  therefore. 
If  the  financial  administration  of  the  city  is  conducted  as 
it  should  be,  there  is  virtually  no  excuse  for  this  kind  of 
indebtedness  at  all. 

When  a  city  borrows  money  outright,  it  may  either 
make  short-time  loans  for  a  specific  purpose,  such  as  car- 
rying the  city  over  in  its  current  expenses  until  the  taxes 
come  in,  or  it  may  make  long-time  loans  running  over  a 


DEBTS,    BUDGET   AND   ACCOUNTING     331 

period  of  years.  The  former  kind  of  loans,  for  which 
the  city  ordinarily  gives  non-negotiable  instruments  as 
evidence  of  indebtedness,  also  constitute  part  of  the 
floating  indebtedness  of  the  city.  They  are  also,  ordi- 
narily, the  result  of  poor  municipal  housekeeping,  for  the 
tax  levy  could  just  as  well  be  made  payable  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fiscal  year  as  at  the  end,  and  the  city, 
therefore,  be  able  to  pay  all  of  its  current  obligations 
as  they  become  due.  Payments  under  continuing  con- 
tracts and  emergency  loans  for  unforeseen  and  urgent 
necessities  would  seem  to  be  the  only  kind  of  floating 
indebtedness  that  it  is  not  possible  to  avoid  altogether. 

Long-time  loans  must  ordinarily  be  secured  by  negoti- 
able evidences  of  debt,  called  bonds,  which,  since  they  are 
now  ordinarily  secured  by  legal  provisions  requiring  the 
creation  of  a  sinking  fund  out  of  the  current  revenues  to 
meet  the  principal  when  due,  constitute  what  is  known  as 
the  funded  debt  of  the  city.  The  advantage  of  the  issu- 
ance of  municipal  bonds,  which  are  legally  secured  and 
are  negotiable,  is  that  the  city  can  in  this  way  secure 
money  at  a  lower  rate  of  interest  than  it  would  have 
to  pay  if  the  money  is  borrowed  without  the  issuance  of 
such  bonds.  The  power  to  issue  bonds  for  the  purpose 
of  borrowing  money  is  therefore  a  very  important  power, 
which,  unlike  the  power  of  borrowing  money  directly, 
was  not  considered  an  inherent  power  of  the  municipal 
corporation.  It  must  be  expressly  granted  to  cities  by 
law,  and  the  grant  of  power  must  be  accompanied  with 
the  safeguards  necessary  to  insure  the  proper  use  of  this 
power  by  the  city. 

Among  the  most  important  considerations  arising  in 
connection  with  the  issuance  of  municipal  bonds,  after 
the  legality  of  the  bonds,  the  expediency  of  their  issue 
and  the  term  of  years  for  which  they  are  to  run  have 


332  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

been  decided  upon,  is  the  manner  of  providing  for  the 
repayment  of  the  principal.  Two  general  methods  are 
possible.  Either  the  entire  amount  of  the  bond  issue  can 
be  made  to  fall  due  at  the  same  time,  or  the  repayment 
of  the  principal  may  be  made  annually  in  smaller  amounts 
until  paid.  In  the  first  case,  it  is  necessary  to  set  aside 
a  definite  amount  each  year  into  a  special  fund  which 
will  be  sufficient  at  the  end  of  the  term  of  years  for  which 
the  bonds  were  issued  to  redeem  the  principal.  The  ad- 
ministration of  these  sinking  funds  in  American  cities, 
even  when  they  came  to  be  required  by  law,  as  they  now 
universally  are  where  the  bonds  all  mature  at  the  same 
time,  has  been  involved  in  so  much  difficulty  through 
inefficiency,  carelessness  or  even  dishonesty,  that  it  has 
not  proved  a  very  satisfactory  system.  A  better  plan 
is  to  issue  the  bonds  in  series  payable  in  successive  years 
until  all  are  paid  off.  If  the  principal  payments  are  made 
equal  for  each  of  the  successive  years,  the  total  annual 
charge  for  principal  and  interest  decreases  yearly,  cor- 
responding in  a  measure  to  the  decrease  in  the  value  of 
the  public  improvement  for  which  the  bonds  were  is- 
sued. The  great  advantage  of  this  plan  is  that  it  insures 
the  regular  retirement  of  the  principal,  which  even  under 
strict  laws  is  not  always  secured  by  the  sinking  fund 
plan.  It  simplifies  the  finance  administration  of  the  city 
by  eliminating  the  distinction  between  net  debt  and  gross 
debt,  which  affords  opportunities  for  confusing  the  citizen 
as  to  the  condition  of  his  municipality  with  regard  to 
indebtedness. 

It  is  not  uncommon  to  stipulate  in  bonds  in  the  ordi- 
nance providing  for  their  issuance  or  even  in  laws  gov- 
erning their  issue  that  they  shall  not  pay  more  than  a 
certain  maximum  interest.  Such  a  provision  is,  of  course, 
of  little  eflfect,  since  their  salability  depends  on  the  in- 


DEBTS,    BUDGET   AND   ACCOUNTING     333 

terest  yielded.  If  too  low  a  rate  of  interest  is  stipulated, 
either  the  bonds  will  not  sell  at  all  or  the  purchasers 
demand  a  bonus  amounting  to  the  difference  between  the 
face  value  of  the  bonds  and  the  market  value  at  the  rate 
of  interest  stipulated.  Of  course,  the  city  has  the  choice 
between  selling  the  bonds  at  a  low  rate  of  interest  or  not 
at  all,  and  it  may  sometimes  be  that  some  contemplated 
improveiuents  could  wait  until  the  market  was  better  and 
the  rate  of  interest  higher,  but  if  the  city  has  to  have  the 
money,  the  lenders  and  not  the  borrowers  determine  the 
actual  rate  of  interest,  which  may  be  different  from  the 
face  value.  Municipal  bond  issues  are  usually  subscribed 
for  by  banks  and  bond  houses  on  a  more  or  less  competi- 
tive basis.  They  make  their  profit,  in  turn,  by  selling  the 
bonds  on  commission.  A  plan  that  has  a  good  deal  to 
commend  it  is  the  practice  of  issuing  the  bonds  in  small 
denominations  and  encouraging  citizens  of  the  city  to 
invest  in  them.  This  has  great  possibilities  in  the  direc- 
tion of  stimulating  a  feeling  of  real  participation  in  the 
affairs  of  the  city  and  an  increased  interest  in  all  its 
doings,  especially  on  the  financial  side.  A  city  could  even 
afford  to  lose  something  in  premiums  paid  by  bond  houses 
in  order  to  enlist  this  practical  participation  by  its  citizens. 
If  such  bonds  were  exempted  from  taxation  by  law  they 
would  undoubtedly  prove  very  attractive  investments 
for  local  citizens. 

^lention  has  been  made  of  the  necessity  of  controlling 
by  law  the  administration  of  municipal  debts  in  the  in- 
terests of  sound  finance.  Such  regulation  is  absolutely 
essential,  as  experience  has  shown.  But  in  addition  to 
regulating  the  manner  of  meeting  bonded  obligations,  and 
an  enumeration  of  the  purposes  for  which  bonds  may  be 
voted,  limitations  are  commonly  imposed  by  law  on  the 
amount  of  indebtedness  that  cities  may  incur.     The  com- 


334  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

monest  provision  is  to  fix  the  total  amount  of  bonded 
indebtedness  which  a  city  may  legally  incur  at  an  amount 
equaling  a  certain  per  cent  of  the  total  assessed  valua- 
tion. What  was  said  with  regard  to  the  folly  of  fixing 
an  arbitrary  maximum  tax  rate  for  cities  by  general  law 
applies  with  even  more  force  in  the  case  of  municipal 
bonds.  To  fix  a  maximum  bonded  indebtedness  is  to 
ignore  the  very  essential  differences  which  were  noted 
above  with  regard  to  the  kind  of  improvement  for  which 
the  bonds  were  issued.  The  necessity  or  wisdom  of  a 
given  bond  issue  cannot  be  determined  solely  or  even 
largely  by  the  amount  of  bonded  indebtedness  already 
outstanding,  but  only  with  reference  to  a  number  of  fac- 
tors that  vary  with  each  individual  case.  Legislative 
provisions  determining  the  maximum  amount  of  bonds 
should  therefore  be  done  away  with  and  administrative 
control  substituted  which  will  give  to  state  authorities 
power  to  compel  the  observance  of  the  provisions  of  law 
with  regard  to  the  purposes  for  which  bonds  may  be  is- 
sued and  the  manner  of  meeting  the  interest  and  redemp- 
tion charges.  The  system  of  requiring  the  administrative 
approval  of  central  administrative  authorities  for  the 
issuance  of  bonds  by  municipalities  is  in  force  not  only 
in  the  countries  of  continental  Europe  but  in  England 
as  well,  the  historic  land  of  traditional  home  rule  in  local 
government.  It  must  not  be  thought,  however,  that  even 
such  supervision  is  intended  in  theory  or  does  in  prac- 
tice keep  the  amount  of  indebtedness  down  to  a  low  fig- 
ure. On  the  contrary,  European  cities  are  as  much  in 
debt  as  American  cities.  If  municipal  debts  are  properly 
incurred,  that  is,  only  for  permanent  improvements,  and 
properly  administered,  that  is  all  one  can  hope  to  have 
accomplished.  Indebtedness,  like  taxation  generally,  is 
bound  to  increase  with  the  growing  demands  of  modern 


DEBTS,   BUDGET   AND   ACCOUNTING    335 

society  and  with  the  increased  difficulty  and  cost  of  pro- 
viding the  essentials  of  decent  community  existence. 

One  other  consideration  remains  to  be  mentioned  again 
in  connection  with  the  issuance  of  bonds,  though  it  has 
already  been  touched  upon  in  another  connection.  Since 
the  issuance  of  bonds,  like  the  granting  of  a  franchise, 
involves  the  creation  of  a  situation  by  the  governing  au- 
thorities of  the  city,  which  it  is  beyond  the  power  of 
succeeding  incumbents  to  remedy,  this  seems  to  be  a 
situation  par  excellence,  where  the  use  of  the  referen- 
dum is  demanded.  The  only  protection  which  the  elec- 
torate can  have  against  irremediable  action  increasing  the 
burden  of  indebtedness  is  by  being  given  an  opportunity 
to  approve  or  disapprove  of  a  proposed  bond  issue  be- 
fore it  goes  into  efifect.  It  is  true  that,  in  the  past,  city 
electorates  have  seemed  to  be  all  too  ready  to  sanction  the 
issuance  of  bonds  and  have  shown  little  discrimination 
in  this  regard.  But  this  has  been  partly  owing  to  the  fact 
that  where  proper  restrictions  on  the  purposes  for  which 
bonds  could  be  issued  have  been  lacking,  the  temptation 
to  authorize  what  was  virtually  the  payment  of  current 
expenses  out  of  bond  issues  has  been  too  powerful,  be- 
cause it  lessened  an  immediate  financial  burden  at  the  ex- 
pense of  future  years.  But  where  bonds  can  legally  be 
issued  only  for  permanent  improvements  and  then  only 
for  a  term  of  years  corresponding  to  the  period  of  useful- 
ness of  the  utility,  and  especially  if  the  serial  form  of 
bonds  is  employed,  imposing  an  unescapable  obligation 
of  paying  a  definite  portion  of  the  principal  each  year, 
this  temptation  will  be  somewhat  diminished.  The  issue 
then  will  be  not  whetlier  to  let  some  one  else  pay  later, 
but  whether  the  improvement  is  sufficiently  desirable  or 
necessary  to  warrant  the  assumption  of  the  additional 
burden.     In  any  case,  even  an   unthinking  approval   is 


336  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

better  from  every  point  of  view,  than  no  expression  of 
opinion  at  all,  since  the  electorate  will  have  only  itself 
to  blame.  There  is  evidence  already,  moreover,  that  not 
all  municipal  electorates  are  in  a  frame  of  mind  to  ap- 
prove every  proposed  issue  of  municipal  bonds. 

While  borrowing  represents,  as  has  been  seen,  an  im- 
portant and,  indeed,  essential  method  of  getting  revenues, 
it  constitutes,  on  the  other  side,  through  the  principal 
and  interest  charges,  one  of  the  most  important  items  of 
municipal  expenditure.  The  proportion  of  total  expen- 
ditures assigned  to  this  item  varies,  of  course,  greatly, 
in  different  cities,  but  amounts  on  the  average  to  about 
one-fifth  of  the  total  expenditures.  Next  to  the  cost 
of  maintaining  the  public  school  system,  which  is  almost 
everywhere  the  largest  single  item  in  American  cities, 
and  frequently  amounts  to  as  much  as  one-third  of  the 
total  expenditures,  the  debt  charges  are  the  largest  single 
expense.  After  that  come  streets,  police  protection,  fire 
protection,  sanitation,  usually  in  the  order  named,  with 
all  other  expenditures,  except  the  operation  of  public 
utilities,  lumped  together  occupying  the  last  place. 

The  question  as  to  what  is  the  proper  relative  amount 
to  spend  on  these  various  items  is  one  of  very  large 
significance,  for  it  is  the  fundamental  question  of  the 
proper  policy  of  municipal  administration.  As  such  it 
will  be  touched  upon  briefly  in  the  concluding  chapter. 
At  this  place  the  matter  of  chief  interest  is  the  question 
of  how  the  expenditures  are  and  should  be  determined 
and  the  method  of  keeping  accurate  account  of  the  money 
expended.  Since  the  power  of  passing  appropriations  is 
really  the  fundamental  power  of  determining  the  policy 
of  the  city  as  to  its  expenditures,  that  function  would, 
in  a  representative  government,  have  to  be  exercised  by 
the  legislative  body,  that  is,  the  city  council,  which  au- 


DEBTS,    BUDGET    AND   ACCOUNTING     337 

thorizes  the  taxes  and  other  sources  of  municipal  revenue 
necessary  to  meet  the  expenses.  But  experience  has 
shown  that  in  dealing  with  appropriations,  tiiat  is,  the 
amounts  of  money  set  aside  for  particular  purposes,  city 
councils  have  generally  been  very  little,  and  frequently 
not  at  all,  concerned  with  the  question  of  general  policy 
involved  in  the  fixing  of  relative  expenditures.  Each 
councilman  has  had  his  particular  interest  which  he  felt 
it  his  business  to  push  without  regard  to  the  question  of 
relative  desirability  or  of  total  expenditures.  The  coun- 
cilman with  the  most  political  influence  secured  the  larg- 
est appropriations  for  his  particular  interest.  What  made 
matters  worse  was  that  the  things  councilmen  were  in- 
terested in  getting  appropriations  for  were  quite  fre- 
quently not  matters  of  general  concern  at  all,  but  improve- 
ments for  their  own  wards,  whether  needed  or  not. 
Councilors,  like  their  prototypes  in  Congress,  found  that 
the  easiest  way  to  secure  a  desired  appropriation  was  to 
trade  their  support  for  some  other  councilor's  pet  scheme 
for  raiding  the  treasury  in  return  for  the  promise  that 
his  appropriation  would  be  given  a  favorable  vote.  The 
result  was  inevitably  not  only  that  appropriations  cor- 
responded in  no  way  to  general  public  interests,  but  also 
that  appropriations  bore  no  necessary  relations  to  the 
income  which  would  be  realized  from  the  tax  rate  and 
other  revenues  provided  for. 

Both  from  the  point  of  view  of  coordinating  the 
various  items  of  expense  for  which  money  is  to  be 
appropriated  and  of  insuring  that  the  totals  of  appro- 
priations shall  not  exceed  the  totals  of  anticipated 
revenues,  some  other  device  had  therefore  to  be  sub- 
stituted for  this  haphazard  appropriation  system.  This 
has  been  done  generally  by  putting  the  function  of  pre- 
paring the  plan  for  the  proposed  appropriations  in   the 


338  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

hands  of  an  administrative  authority,  usually,  in  the  case 
of  cities,  in  the  hands  of  the  mayor.  He  thereupon  be- 
came charged  with  the  important  duty  of  making  the 
first  recommendations  with  regard  to  proposed  expen- 
ditures and,  more  important  still,  with  making  sure  that 
the  appropriations  provided  could  be  met  out  of  the  an- 
ticipated revenues  of  the  city  for  the  ensuing  year.  This 
statement  of  contemplated  expenditures  balanced  over 
against  expected  revenues  is  called  a  budget.  Of  course 
the  budget,  when  prepared  in  this  manner,  could  not  go 
into  effect  without  passage  by  the  council,  as  the  power 
of  actually  making  appropriations  is  a  legislative  power 
and  must  be  exercised  by  the  legislative  organ  of  govern- 
ment. But  if  the  council  was  to  be  left  free  to  alter 
the  budget  in  any  way  it  saw  fit,  most  of  the  advantage 
of  an  administrative  budget  would  be  lost,  since  the  log- 
rolling tactics  would  be  brought  into  play  as  soon  as 
the  budget  was  up  for  action  in  the  council.  In  order, 
therefore,  to  have  all  appropriations  actually  passed  by 
the  council  and  at  the  same  time  to  exclude  the  practice 
of  log  rolling,  the  council  is  limited  to  reducing  or  omit- 
ting items  from  the  proposed  expenditures,  but  may  not 
insert  new  ones.  This  does,  of  course,  constitute  a  seri- 
ous curtailment  of  the  power  of  the  council  in  shaping 
the  general  policies  of  the  city  with  regard  to  its  ex- 
penditures, but  experience  has  shown  that  it  is  a  neces- 
sary curtailment.  The  executive  budget  system,  it  may 
not  be  improper  to  add,  is  the  accepted  practice  in  all 
civilized  countries  of  the  world  except  in  our  own. 

A  budget,  to  be  really  valuable,  should  be  accompanied 
by  a  careful  statement  of  expenditures  for  the  year  pre- 
ceding, prepared  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  where  there 
are  proposed  increases  and  where  proposed  decreases  for 
the  ensuing  year.    For  the  same  reason,  the  budget  should 


DEBTS,    BUDGET   AND    ACCOUNTING     339 

be  itemized  for  each  department,  and  the  appropriations, 
when  made,  should  be  itemized,  in  order  to  insure  that  the 
money  shall  be  used  for  the  purposes  for  which  it  was 
intended.  This  itemization  must  not  be  carried  too  far, 
for  it  would  unduly  hamper  the  department  heads  in 
exercising  a  desirable  discretion ;  but,  generally  speaking, 
it  is  safer  to  err  on  the  side  of  too  great  itemization  or 
segregation,  as  it  is  called,  than  on  the  side  of  too  little 
segregation,  which  error  has  in  the  past  not  infrequently 
led  practically  to  getting  around  the  budget  control. 

Because  of  the  fact  that  the  budget  is  a  fundamental 
declaration  of  policy,  and  the  fact  that  the  policy-deter- 
mining organ  of  the  city  government,  the  council,  can- 
not safely  be  permitted  to  express  its  opinion  in  the  way 
of  increasing  expenditures  for  certain  undertakings  in 
which  the  public  might  have  a  larger  interest  than  th^ 
budget-making  authority,  it  is  extremely  desirable  and 
even  necessary  that  ample  opportunity  be  given  to  the 
public  to  become  acquainted  with  the  proposed  budget 
before  its  submission  fur  passage  by  the  council,  and  to 
express  their  opinion  as  to  the  desirability  of  increas- 
ing as  well  as  decreasing  items.  Publication  of  the  ten- 
tative budget,  in  simple,  easily  understandable  form,  and 
distribution  to  all  interested  citizens  with  ample  opportu- 
nity for  the  expression  of  opinions  before  the  budget- 
making  authority,  is  an  essential  element  in  the  executive 
budget  system  for  the  city. 

After  the  budget  has  passed  the  city  council  the  money 
is  appropriated  to  the  various  purposes,  usually  by  de- 
partments, and  can  be  drawn  out  by  the  administrative 
officers  under  proper  safeguards  insuring  responsibility 
for  every  cent  that  is  disburseil  from  the  city  treasury. 
Payment  is  made  on  warrants  or  vouchers  issued  by  the 
officer  for  whose  department  the  money  is  appropriated 


340  MUNICIPAL    FUXCTIONS 

and  approved  by  a  controller  whose  business  it  is  to 
see  that  the  order  is  regular  in  every  respect.  The  great- 
est care  is  necessary  in  the  formulation  and  enforcement 
of  the  regulations  covering  the  actual  disbursement  of 
moneys,  for  a  great  deal  of  leakage  has  occurred  in  the 
past  at  this  point  through  lax  rules  on  this  subject. 

In  order  to  insure  that  the  administrative  officials  do 
not  spend  more  money  than  is  appropriated  for  their 
work,  it  is  the  universal  practice  to  make  any  expendi- 
tures, except  on  the  basis  of  appropriations,  illegal  and 
the  auditor  or  controller  will  not  authorize  the  pay- 
ment of  warrants  signed  by  a  department  head  or  by 
the  mayor  if  the  amount  appropriated  for  that  particular 
purpose  has  been  exceeded.  But  that  provision  does  not 
insure  that  the  administrative  officer  in  charge  of  the 
expenditures  of  a  department  will  take  the  necessary 
care  to  see  that  his  money  lasts  throughout  the  fiscal  year. 
If  his  money  is  all  gone  before  the  close  of  the  year,  he 
may  not  be  legally  able  to  spend  any  more,  but  that  would 
mean  the  cessation  of  activities  in  his  department.  In 
many  cases  such  a  result  would  be  disastrous,  as,  for 
instance,  in  the  police,  fire,  or  health  departments,  and 
in  most  of  the  other  work  of  the  city  the  situation  would 
be  intolerable.  If  now  the  official  cannot  legally  incur 
obligations  in  excess  of  his  appropriations,  which  should 
be  made  part  of  the  law,  the  only  recourse  is  to  have  sup- 
plementary appropriations,  which,  if  carried  to  extremes, 
would  practically  nullify  the  advantages  of  budget  pro- 
cedure. It  may  happen,  of  course,  that  unforeseen  cir- 
cumstances, over  which  the  department  head  has  no  con- 
trol, arise  and  require  more  money  than  could  have  been 
anticipated.  Long  protracted  strike  difficulties  necessi- 
tating greater  police  forces,  epidemics  of  serious  diseases 
demanding   extensive   publi*   health    measures,    fires   or 


DEBTS,    BUDGET   AND   ACCOUNTING     341 

other  calamities  destroying  municipal  property,  may  all 
occur  to  increase  the  estimated  expenditures.  For  that 
purpose  an  emergency  fund  should  be  provided  each  year 
in  the  budget,  and  the  unused  portion  carried  over  from 
year  to  year  and  assigned  to  the  various  departments 
by  the  administrative  head  of  the  city  government  as 
needed.  But  those  are  exceptional  cases.  The  com- 
monest cause  of  the  failure  to  keep  expenditures  within 
appropriations  is  the  lack  of  care  on  the  part  of  the 
department  head.  This  can  be  counteracted  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  by  providing  that  the  part  of  the  de- 
partmental appropriation  required  for  regular  current  ex- 
penses, like  salaries  and  supplies,  which  are  more  or  less 
equal  throughout  the  year,  shall  become  available  only  in 
monthly  installments. 

In  every  well-managed  city  there  is  always  a  consider- 
able amount  of  money  in  the  treasury  for  current  ex- 
penses at  the  beginning  of  the  fiscal  year,  as  well  as  spe- 
cial funds  for  meeting  particular  obligations,  like  pay- 
ments on  continuing  contracts,  interest  and  principal 
funds  for  bonds,  etc.  These  moneys  in  the  hands  of  the 
treasurer  have,  in  the  past,  commonly  yielded  nothing 
to  the  city  treasury  in  interest,  though  they  were  banked, 
and  the  treasurer  derived  the  benefit,  either  directly  by 
drawing  the  interest  himself  or  through  favors  from  the 
bank  in  which  he  placed  them  without  interest.  Obvi- 
ously, the  profits  from  municipal  funds  belong  to  the 
city,  and  provision  should  therefore  be  made  for  deposit- 
ing the  city  funds  with  the  responsible  bank  which  offers 
the  best  rate  of  interest,  a  practice  which  can  often  be 
made  to  yield  an  appreciable  revenue  to  the  city. 

For  the  purpose  of  preparing  a  satisfactory  budget,  as 
well  as  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  dishonesty,  dis- 
covering inefficiency  and  improving  the  quality  of  muni- 
28 


342  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

cipal  administration  generally,  there  is  one  fundamental 
prerequisite  which  has  unfortunately  been  too  commonly 
lacking  in  American  cities,  and  that  is  proper  municipal 
bookkeeping  or  accounting.  One  of  the  most  helpful 
means  of  improving  the  business  administration  of  a  city 
is  an  accurate  unit  system  of  cost  accounting  which  will 
show  in  public  business,  as  it  does  in  private,  just  what 
is  the  cost  of  each  undertaking  of  the  city.  A  municipal 
corporation  differs  from  a  private  corporation,  it  is  true, 
in  that  the  main  emphasis  is  not  to  be  laid  on  the  ques- 
tion of  profit  in  terms  of  money  returns.  But  the  two 
kinds  of  corporations  are  alike  in  that  neither  can  be  suc- 
cessfully run  unless  scientific  and  accurate  accounting 
methods  enable  the  officials  to  discover  at  all  times  just 
what  the  various  operations  of  the  city  are  really  costing, 
and  just  what  the  financial  condition  of  the  city  is  at  all 
times.  One  of  the  chief  advantages  to  be  derived  from 
such  accounting  methods  is  the  possibility  of  comparing 
the  cost  of  municipal  undertakings  in  one  city  with  their 
cost  in  another.  For  that  purpose,  it  is  apparent  that 
accurate  acounting  by  one  municipality  is  not  sufficient, 
but  that  uniform  accounting  by  all  cities  is  desirable. 
This  can  be  attained  for  all  the  cities  of  a  given  state 
by  requiring  uniform  accounting  methods  by  general 
law.  There  is  obviously  no  infringement  of  any  local 
freedom  in  requiring  a  record  of  all  financial  operations 
to  be  made  in  a  uniform  prescribed  manner.  On  the  con- 
trary, cities  whose  officials  might  not  be  inclined  to  realize 
the  advantages  of  scientific  municipal  accounting  will 
profit  by  having  such  accounting  prescribed  by  state  law. 
Mere  bookkeeping,  that  is  the  proper  recording  of  all 
financial  transactions  and  conditions,  though  the  funda- 
mental prerequisite,  is  not  enough.  Such  figures  are  of 
little  or  no  value  to  the  citizen  who  wants  to  know  just 


DEBTS,    BUDGET   AND   ACCOUNTING     343 

what  the  city  is  doing  and  how  much  it  is  costing  it  at 
every  step  in  the  operations.  For  this  purpose  the  figures 
have  to  be  prepared  in  the  shape  of  reports  which  show 
in  terse  and  readily  understandable  form  just  what  the 
figures  mean.  The  figures  are  enough  for  the  auditor 
who  examines  the  accounts  from  the  point  of  view  of 
legality  or  for  the  official  who  desires  to  derive  profit 
from  their  consideration.  But  for  the  public  the  sum- 
mary statements  and  their  interpretation  are  more  im- 
portant. In  the  light  of  such  reports,  campaign  statements 
about  money  saved  and  the  improved  condition  of  the 
finances  of  the  city  can  readily  be  checked  up  by  the  in- 
terested citizen,  who  without  them  must  remain  wholly 
in  the  dark.  Too  much  emphasis  can  therefore  scarcely 
be  laid  upon  the  importance  of  proper  accounting  and  re- 
porting methods. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


CONCLUSION 


Something  has  been  seen  in  the  previous  chapters  con- 
cerning the  nature  and  extent  of  the  activities  which  are 
or  should  be  undertaken  by  a  modern  city  fully  alive 
to  its  obligations  and  possibilities.  The  primary  object 
of  this  rapid  survey  has  been  to  open  a  horizon  for  the 
citizen  by  acquainting  him  with  the  most  important  as- 
pects of  the  various  phases  of  municipal  administration 
and  showing  how  large  a  part  of  the  work  of  municipal 
government  is  really  dependent  upon  the  adoption  and 
execution  of  certain  definite  policies.  In  a  democracy, 
such  as  our  cities  are  supposed  to  be  and  all  cities  should 
be,  the  primary  task  is  to  discover  a  vision  of  municipal 
efficiency  and  usefulness  which  will  stimulate  and  appeal 
to  the  citizen.  Without  the  sympathetic  interest  and 
cooperation  of  the  great  mass  of  the  citizenship,  a  pro- 
gram of  municipal  advancement  in  a  democracy  is  an  idle 
dream.  First  in  importance,  therefore,  is  the  prosecu- 
tion of  a  campaign  of  education  which  will  bring  before 
all  of  the  municipal  citizenship,  in  as  simple  a  manner 
as  possible,  the  great  possibilities  of  good  municipal  gov- 
ernment. 

Unfortunately,  however,  fundamental  as  is  this  awak- 
ening of  the  citizenship,  that  is  not  all  that  is  needed  in 

344 


CONCLUSION  345 

order  to  put  into  effect  the  new  ideas  even  after  they 
have  obtained  general  assent  among  the  mass  of  urban 
dwellers,  at  least  for  American  cities.  In  almost  every 
one  of  the  chapters,  dealing  with  the  various  phases  of 
municipal  activities,  it  has  been  necessary  to  point  out 
that  American  cities  labored  under  restrictions  of  various 
kinds  which  interfered  with  the  execution  of  the  most 
approved  steps  in  municipal  progress.  The  next  funda- 
mental consideration,  therefore,  is  to  relieve  the  city  of 
these  hampering  limitations.  The  general  ideal  from 
this  point  of  view  is  commonly  designated  by  the  term, 
"municipal  home  rule,"  but  this  term  has  been  so  diver- 
gently understood,  and  variously  applied,  that  a  some- 
what more  specific  designation  of  just  what  is  or  should 
be  included  in  that  concept,  as  a  goal  to  be  sought  after, 
is  necessary. 

Municipal  home  rule,  broadly  speaking,  includes  two 
somewhat  different  concepts.  One  refers  to  the  power 
of  the  city  to  choose  for  itself  the  kind  of  machinery 
it  wishes  to  employ  for  accomplishing  its  results.  The 
other  has  reference  to  the  power  to  choose  what  things 
the  city  wishes  to  do.  The  first  aspect  of  home  rule  is 
commonly  called  the  charter-making  power.  Municipal 
corporations  in  this  country  commonly  operate  under 
charters,  that  is,  instruments  which  determine  for  the 
particular  city  the  framework  of  government  under  which 
it  operates.  Municipal  charters,  granted  in  Colonial  days 
by  the  governors  of  the  colonies,  as  they  were  in 
England  by  the  Crown,  came,  after  the  Revolution, 
to  be  granted  by  the  legislatures  of  the  states,  and  ac- 
quired thereby  the  character  of  ordinary  laws.  At  first, 
it  was  the  practice  to  grant  separate  charters,  at  least 
to  the  larger  cities,  and  there  was  the  possibility  of 
varying    the    framework    of    the    government    to    suit 


346  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

the    needs    and    desires    of    the    individual    municipali- 
ties. 

Unfortunately,  the  state  legislatures  soon  proved  to 
have  little  interest  in  making  use  of  this  opportunity  to 
suit  local  conditions  and  the  power  of  granting  special 
charters,  which  also  comprised  an  enumeration  of  the 
powers  and  duties  of  the  city  as  well  as  a  description 
of  the  machinery  of  government,  came  to  be  the  source 
of  serious  abuse  and  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  interests  of 
the  cities  to  the  washes  of  the  controlling  powers  in  the 
legislatures.  Even  when  legislatures  were  not  intention- 
ally disregardful  of  the  best  interests  of  the  cities,  the 
fact  that  the  majority  of  the  legislators  came  from  rural 
districts,  and  were  quite  incapable  of  understanding  mu- 
nicipal needs  and  problems,  resulted  in  a  most  unsatisfac- 
tory situation.  The  views  which  the  courts  took  of  the 
complete  subjection  of  the  city  to  the  state  legislature 
made  the  situation  appear  for  a  long  time  quite  hopeless. 
Several  attempts  to  remedy  the  situation,  such,  for  in- 
stance, as  the  prohibition  on  special  legislation,  requiring 
legislatures  to  deal  wath  all  cities  alike,  when  not  virtu- 
ally evaded,  proved  undesirable  for  other  reasons.  Not 
until  state  constitutions  conferred  upon  cities  the  power 
of  framing  their  own  charters  without  control  by  the 
legislature  did  the  situation  really  improve.  This  power 
of  local  determination  as  to  what  kind  of  governmental 
instruments  were  desired  for  a  city  was  the  only  satis- 
factory method  of  meeting  that  situation.  One  state  af- 
ter another  conferred  this  charter  making  power  upon 
cities  by  constitutional  grant,  until  today  more  than  a 
dozen  states  have  joined  the  list,  with  every  prospect 
that  the  others  will  follow  sooner  or  later.  It  seems 
obvious  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  itself  are  likely 
to  be  in  the  best  position  to  judge  what  scheme  of  gov- 


CONCLUSION  347 

ernment  is  best  adapted  to  their  needs.  Whether  tlicy 
are  or  not,  it  is  clear  that  they  are  tlie  ones  who  prosper 
or  suffer,  and  that  they  should  have  the  right  of  fram- 
ing their  own  governmental  machinery. 

Throughout  this  work  but  little  attention  has  been 
devoted  to  the  subject  of  the  governmental  machinery, 
for  the  chief  concern  here  has  been  to  point  out  what 
every  city  should  do  no  matter  what  form  of  govern- 
ment it  might  be  operating  under.  It  is  not  within  the 
scope  of  this  work,  therefore,  to  go  into  the  question  of 
what  machinery  is  best  adapted  to  carrying  out  the  func- 
tions discussed  in  the  previous  chapters.  It  is  necessary 
to  point  out,  however,  that  while  the  end  is  much  more 
important  than  the  means,  there  may  be  a  vast  difference 
in  the  case  with  which  the  end  is  to  be  accomplished 
according  to  whether  or  not  the  most  suitable  means 
have  been  employed.  In  other  words,  there  are  some  very 
serious  defects  in  the  general  scheme  of  municipal  gov- 
ernment which  has  been  adopted  in  this  country,  which 
must  be  charged  with  a  part  at  least  of  the  failure  of 
American  cities  to  accomplish  the  desired  ends.  While 
there  may  not  be  universal  agreement  as  to  what  form 
of  municipal  machinery  is  best  suited  for  American  cities, 
to  enable  them  to  accomplish  their  ends,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  cities  would  profit  by  being  free  to  make 
a  change  in  their  machinery  of  government  if  circum- 
stances seem  to  demand  it.  The  experience  of  cities 
which  have  enjoyed  the  power  of  framing  their  own 
charters  can  hardly  leave  a  doubt  on  the  score  of  the 
advantages  of  that  system  over  the  former  plan  of  char- 
ters imposed  by  ignorant  and  indifferent  legislatures. 

The  other  phase  of  the  home-rule  doctrine,  namely, 
that  cities  should  have  freedom  in  determining  what  they 
wish  to  do,  as  well  as  with  what  kind  of  instruments  they 


348  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

wish  to  work,  a  phase  to  which  reference  has  been  made 
more  than  once  in  the  discussion  of  municipal  functions, 
presents  somewhat  greater  difficulties.  Extreme  advo- 
cates of  home  rule  are  likely  to  assert  that  cities  should 
have  absolute  freedom  in  dealing  with  matters  of  local 
concern.  Absolute  freedom,  of  course,  involves  com- 
plete legal  powers,  and  also  freedom  from  any  sort  of 
restrictions.  American  cities  have,  from  the  first,  been 
considered  as  governmental  units  of  strictly  enumerated 
powers.  Only  such  powers  as  the  legislatures  expressly 
conferred  could  be  exercised  by  the  cities.  Unfortu- 
nately, here  also,  legislatures  were  very  reactionary, 
and  granted  powers  to  a  limited  degree  only.  Almost 
every  new  undertaking  which  a  city  might  think  de- 
sirable had  to  be  sanctioned  by  a  special  legislative 
grant,  either  for  the  particular  city,  or  after  the  prohi- 
bition on  special  legislation  for  all  cities,  or  all  cities 
of  one  class.  Much  better  would  it  have  been  had  the 
American  legislatures,  instead  of  enumerating  in  detail 
everything  that  cities  might  do,  following  the  example 
set  by  Prussia,  for  instance,  in  passing  the  municipal 
code,  conferred  general  powers  upon  cities  of  regulating 
all  matters  of  local  concern,  so  long  as  they  did  not  come 
into  conflict  with  the  general  laws  or  the  powers  of  other 
governmental  authorities.  Such  a  grant  would  have  en- 
abled our  cities  to  get  into  the  line  of  municipal  progress 
long  before  this.  Substantially,  such  a  grant  of  powers 
by  constitutional  provision  is  what  the  advocates  of  com- 
plete home  rule  desire  in  the  home-rule  amendments 
to  our  state  constitutions. 

To  give  cities  full  powers  in  matters  of  local  concern 
is  meaningless,  however,  unless  we  know  what  are  mat- 
ters of  local  concern.  The  courts  of  the  United  States, 
influenced  by  a  century  and  a  half  of  narrow  construction 


CONCLUSION  349 

of  municipal  powers,  have  not  been  very  liberal  in  their 
interpretation  of  what  are  matters  of  local  concern.  It 
is  neither  possible  nor  desirable  at  this  place  to  go  into 
a  study  of  the  decisions  on  this  point.  More  important 
and,  indeed,  fundamental  is  the  determination  of  the  ques- 
tion :  ^\M^at  are  the  matters  of  local  concern  over  which 
cities  should  be  given  complete  control?  If  by  the  term, 
"local  matters,"  is  meant  such  matters  as  are  solely  of 
interest  to  the  city,  and  are  of  no  importance  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  state  at  large,  it  may  be  conceded  at  the  out- 
set that  there  are  no  such  matters.  Every  one  of  the 
functions  considered  in  the  previous  chapters  has  some 
bearing  on  the  welfare  of  the  larger  community.  In 
some  cases,  such  as  the  enforcement  of  state  laws  by  the 
city  police,  the  connection  is  very  close.  In  others,  such 
as  the  paving  of  the  city  streets,  the  connection  is  very 
slight.  But,  in  every  case,  some  connection  exists,  and 
in  some  of  the  more  fundamental  activities  of  cities,  such 
as  education,  poor  relief,  public  health,  etc.,  the  relation 
is  very  intimate.  Obviously,  then,  home  rule  cannot  mean 
power  over  matters  that  are  solely  of  local  concern,  since 
there  are  no  such  matters.  On  the  other  hand,  it  can- 
not mean  that  the  state  shall  relinquish  all  its  power  over 
these  matters  that  are  of  importance  to  it  as  well  as  to 
the  city,  as  some  extremists  on  the  home-rule  question 
would  seem  to  desire.  This  would  obviously  be  tanta- 
mount to  breaking  the  state  up  into  a  host  of  independent 
units. 

What,  then,  should  be  the  method  of  dividing  up  the 
relative  sphere  of  state  and  municipal  action  in  these 
matters  which  are  of  interest  to  both?  The  truth  of  the 
matter  is  that  no  rule  of  thumb  can  be  laid  down  for 
any  such  division.  This  fact  must  be  kept  in  mind,  how- 
ever:  no  matter  how  great  the  interest  of  the  state  at 


350  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

large  in  these  matters  may  be,  the  interest  of  the  city 
is  even  greater.    Anything  which  contributes  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  city  is  fundamentally  a  mu- 
nicipal concern.     The  city  should,  therefore,  have  the 
power  to  undertake  any  such  activity.     The  interests  of 
the  state  can  then  be  preserved  by  limiting  the  exercise 
of  that  power  so  far  as  necessary  to  preserve  those  larger 
interests,  with  the  minimum  interference  with  local  ac- 
tivities.    But  cities  have  duties  as  well   as  rights,   not 
merely  duties  to  their  own  inhabitants  but  to  the  state 
at  large,  and  the  enforcement  of  fhose  duties  is  obviously 
a  function  for  the  state  government.    The  German  cities, 
which  are  so  frequently  cited  as  the  freest  cities  in  the 
world,  exercise  their  powers  under  the  strictest  kind  of 
state  supervision.     This  supervision  is  intended  to  pro- 
tect private  rights  against  governmental  aggression,  to 
insure  honesty  and  efficiency  in  the  city  government,  and 
to  see  that  the  larger  interests  of  the  state  are  not  sacri- 
ficed to  the  interests  of  the  city.     This  supervision  is, 
however,  exercised  not  through  the  legislature,  as  in  this 
country,  but  through  administrative  officers.     If  we  are 
to   imitate  German   municipal   practice  in  according  to 
cities  large  powers  of  municipal  enterprise,  we  must  not 
omit  the  other  side  of  the  picture,  namely,  careful  state 
supervision    exercised    through    administrative    officials. 
Hand  in  hand  with  municipal  emancipation  from  the  doc- 
trine of  limited  powers,  strict  construction,  and  legislative 
interference  in  this  country  must  go  the  doctrine  of  effi- 
cient administrative  control.  Every  state  should  therefore 
have  an  administrative  department  for  local  government 
through  which  would  be  administered  the  limitations  nec- 
essary to  protect  the  cities  against  themselves  and  each 
other,  and  the  state  as  a  whole.     How  these  limitations 
should  be  applied  has  already  been  touched  upon  as  re- 


CONCLUSION  351 

gards  such  matters  as  police  protection,  public  health,  poor 
relief,  education,  taxation  and  indebtedness.  Their  proper 
application  must  be  intrusted  to  a  body  of  experts,  a  model 
for  which  might  be  found  in  the  English  local  govern- 
ment board.  The  problem,  therefore,  is  not  one  of  choos- 
ing between  state  administration  and  local  administration 
of  these  matters,  which  are  of  primary  interest  to  the 
city,  but  of  devising  the  proper  kind  of  state  control 
over  local  administration.  Only  in  tiiis  way  can  home 
rule  be  realized  without  the  possibility  of  detriment  to 
the  larger  unit.  Larger  powers  and  a  greater  measure 
of  administrative  supervision  are  therefore  the  twin  pre- 
requisites to  the  future  development  of  American  cities. 
One  further  question  remains  to  be  considered.  Even 
if  cities  have  the  necessary  powers,  financial  and  legal, 
for  undertaking  a  comprehensive  program  of  municipal 
improvement,  it  is  not  possible  to  do  everything  at  once. 
Any  such  program  must  involve  for  its  completion  a  long 
period  of  time.  The  first  practical  question  that  arises, 
and  one  which  those  interested-  in  municipal  improve- 
ment frequently  ask,  is :  Where  should  the  start  be  made  ? 
Since  all  improvements  cannot  be  undertaken  at  once, 
which  should  be  undertaken  first?  To  this  perplexing 
question  a  general  answer  can  hardly  be  made,  since  cities 
vary  so  greatly  in  their  conditions  and  needs.  It  is  un- 
fortunately true  that  a  great  deal  of  time  and  energy  are 
wasted  on  the  part  of  public-spirited  citizens  interested 
in  improving  conditions  in  their  city  because  they  can- 
not get  together  on  a  comprehensive  program.  Each  in- 
dividual or  group  of  individuals  is  interested  in  some 
particular  phase  of  municipal  activity  which  to  them 
seems  all  important.  Since  there  is  not  money  enough 
to  go  around,  each  sees  in  the  reform  proposals  of  the 
others,  at  least  so  far  as  they  involve  the  expenditure 


352  MUNICIPAL   FUNCTIONS 

of  moneys,  a  danger  to  his  pet  scheme.  Instead  of  coop- 
erating, therefore,  these  potential  forces  for  good  are  too 
often  fighting  each  other,  with  the  consequence  that  noth- 
ing is  accomphshed.  For  that  reason,  it  seems  desirable 
to  venture  upon  the  hazardous  task  of  outlining  very 
broadly  the  elements  of  a  comprehensive  program  of  mu- 
nicipal improvement  for  a  city  which  is  lacking  in  all 
respects. 

Since  the  fundamental  prerequisite  to  the  existence  of 
society  in  any  form  is  the  preservation  of  law,  order  and 
the  protection  of  life  and  property,  it  would  seem  that  the 
first  care  of  the  city  should  be  the  adequate  provision  for 
public  safety.  This  would  include  the  work  of  the  police, 
fire  and  public  health  departments,  and  they  should  there- 
fore be  the  first  to  be  put  on  an  adequate  basis.  As  a 
necessary  condition  to  accomplishing  this  end  would  be 
the  provision  of  such  public  improvements  as  paved  and 
lighted  streets,  water  and  sewage  works  and  the  machin- 
ery of  fire  fighting.  After  these  elemental  needs  are  ade- 
quately met,  the  undertaking  of  most  concern  to  the  city 
is  probably  the  provision  for  public  education,  since 
popular  government  is  dependent  for  its  continuance  upon 
an  educated  citizenship.  Then  come  the  numerous  and 
varied  activities  under  the  head  of  social  welfare,  funda- 
mental among  which  is  the  problem  of  poor  relief.  Which 
of  the  other  different  phases  of  social  welfare  work  are 
to  be  considered  as  the  most  important  and  pressing  will 
depend  so  largely  on  the  character  of  the  city  that  no 
general  statement  can  be  ventured.  After  all  these  other 
matters  have  been  adequately  provided  for,  it  is  time 
enough  for  the  city  to  turn  to  what  might  be  called  its 
luxuries.  Elaborate  and  expensive  municipal  buildings, 
miles  of  elegant  boulevards  for  automobile  pleasure  driv- 
ing, ornamental  street  lighting,  the  creation  of  imposing 


CONCLUSION  353 

civic  centers  at  large  expense,  are  all  highly  attractive 
and  desirable  features  of  city  life.  But  the  very  fact  that 
they  are  so  impressive  makes  it  likely  that  these  under- 
takings will  be  entered  upon  while  the  other  more  fun- 
damental but  less  conspicuous  needs  of  the  city  are  still 
unsatisfied.  Beauty  is  one  of  the  most  edifying  factors  in 
human  development,  but  a  manifestation  of  beauty  to  be 
enjoyed  by  the  few  while  the  many  are  still  suffering  from 
improper  housing  and  indecent  living  conditions  is  not  a 
democratic  or  humanitarian  ideal.  The  chief  warning 
that  seems  to  be  needed  by  American  cities  in  guiding 
them  on  their  march  upward  is  that  until  more  attention 
is  devoted  to  the  more  obscure  phases  of  social  welfare 
work,  less  money  should  be  spent  on  the  more  showy  as- 
pects of  city  improvement.  The  keynote  of  the  new 
American  city  should  not  be  grandeur  but  democracy,  a 
real  democracy  of  social  conditions. 


INDEX 


Abatement  laws,  148-149 

Ability  theory  of  taxation, 
308 

Accounting,  municipal,  rela- 
tion of,  to  municipal  own- 
ership, 295 ;  general  discus- 
sion, 342-343 

Acropolis,  2 

Activated  sludge,  233 

Administrative  control.  Sec 
Central  control 

Administrative  efficiency,  23, 
42-49,  63,  90,  242-245,  275- 
281,  285,  301-302,  319 

Akron   municipal   university, 

95 
Alexander  the  Great,  3 

Appropriations,  336-337,  339- 

340 

Aqueducts,  in  ancient  Rome, 
4;  Croton,  22;  Catskill, 
222 ;  Los  Angeles,  222 

Architecture,  regulation  of, 
209 

Asphalt  pavements,  22,  196- 
197 

Assessment  of  taxes,  ineffi- 
ciency in,  301-302;  scien- 
tific. 302-304;  separate  val- 
uation of  buildings,  304. 
See  also  Valuation  of  real 
estate 

Assessments.  See  Special 
assessments 

Athens,  municipal  functions 
in,  2-3 


Augustus,  5 

Autonomy.     See  Home  rule 

Bacteria.  See  Sewage  dis- 
posal 

Bacteriologist,  city,  71-72 

Bakeries,  79 

Baltimore,  state  police  com- 
mission in,  53 

Barber  shops,  88 

Baths,  public,  in  Athens,  2; 
Rome,  4-5  ;  medieval  cities, 
7;  part  of  modern  social 
welfare  program,   169-170 

Bavaria.    See  Germany 

Benefit  theory  of  taxation, 
308 

Berlin,  voluntary  assistance 
in  poor  relief,  180 

Betterment  tax.  See  Special 
assessments 

Bingham,   Commissioner,  37 

Board  administration,  of  po- 
lice departments,  34; 
health  protection,  90 ; 
schools,  116,  1 18-1 19;  gen- 
eral discussion,  116 

Bonds,  municipal,  for  munici- 
pal utilities,  291-292;  na- 
ture and  purposes  of  debt, 
323-331 ;  long-time  loans, 
331;  repayment,  331-333; 
sinking-fund  Z'S.  serial 
bonds,  331-332;  bond  mar- 
keting, 332-333 ;  limitations 
on    bonding    power,    331, 


355 


356 


INDEX 


333;   referendum   on  bond 

issues,  335 
Bonds,   utility,   regulation  of 

issue,  268 
Borrowing,   municipal.     See 

Debts 
Borrowing    power,    relation 

to     municipal     ownership, 

291-292;      limitations     on, 

331.  333 
Boston,  municipal  sewer  sys- 
tem, 22;  state  police  com- 
mission, 53 
Botanical   gardens,    113,    170 
Boulevards,    191,    206,    207, 

352 

Bourbons,  II 

Brick  pavements,  22,  196-197 

Broad  irrigation,  231-232,  235 

Budget,  338-340 

Building  and  loan  funds,  166 

Building  code,  61 

Building  regulations,  in 
Rome,  5;  in  19th  Century 
Europe,  15;  for  fire  pre- 
vention, 58-60.  See  also 
Housing 

Buildings,  public,  in  Athens, 
2;  medieval  cities,  7;  re- 
lation to  sanitation,  82 ;  lo- 
cation, 207-209 ;  architec- 
ture, 209;  relative  impor- 
tance, 352.  See  also  School 
buildings 

Business  taxes,  305 

Capitalization,  of  public  util- 
ities,  255 

Carnegie  library  movement, 
109 

Catsicill  water  supply,  222 

Censorship,   143 

Central  control,  in  France, 
12;  Prussia,  13;  of  police, 
50-53;  fire  protection,  66; 


health   protection,   88,   91 ; 
schools,      121-122;     water 
supply,    222-223 ;    public 
utilities,  275-281 ;  taxation, 
314-317;    relation    to    sub- 
ventions, 320-322;  of  bor- 
rowing   power,    331,    333- 
334;    desirability,    349-351- 
See  also  Home  rule 
Cesspools,  84,  227 
Charity.     See  Poor  relief 
Charters,  municipal,  345-347 
Checkerboard     street     plan, 

189-190 
Chemical  treatment  of  water, 

221 ;  of  sewage,  232,  234 
Chlorin,  234 

Church  charities,   174,  176 
Cincinnati,     municipal     uni- 
versity, 95 
Circular  streets,  191 
Citizen  cooperation,  344 
City    beautification,    190-191, 
203-204,  205,  206,  209,  352- 
353.      See    also    Improve- 
ments, municipal 
City  block,  191-192 
City-manager  plan,  23 
City  manager,  relation  o'f,  to 

police  department,  34 
City  plan,  in  Piraeus,  2 ;  later 
Greek  cities,  3;  London,  9; 
relation   to   unemployment, 

.165 
City    planning,    development 

and  social  meaning  of,  16- 
17;  general  discussion,  186- 
188,  2II-2I2;  comprehen- 
siveness, 188-189;  streets, 
189-204;  transportation, 
204-206;  parks  and  boule- 
vards, 206-207 ;  public 
buildings,  207-209 ;  zoning, 
209-211;  finance  and  land 
control,  212-216,  319 


n  )EX 


357 


City-states,  Greek,  1-3 
Civic    centers,    207-209,    352. 
See  also  Buildings,  jniblic ; 
City  planning 
Civics,  education  in,  99.    See 
also    Training    for    public 
service 
Civil  service,  general  discus- 
sion   of,    44-45 ;    in    police 
administration,  45-49;  effi- 
ciency records,  46-47;   re- 
movals,   47-49;    in    health 
departments,  90;  in  schools, 
120 
Cloaca  maxima,  5 
Cobblestone  pavements,  21 
Collection  of  taxes,  304-305 
Colleges,  municipal,  95 
Commission  government,  23 
Community  nursing,  86 
Community  singing.   114 
Competition  in  public  utility 

service,  249-252,  291 
Compulsory     school     attend- 
ance, 94 
Compulsory     sewer    connec- 
tion, 84 
Concrete  pavements,  196-197 
Condemnation    of    property. 
See  Eminent  domain ;  Ex- 
cess condemnation 
Congestion     of     population, 

159-160 
Constituent  Assembly,   1 1 
Construction,    municipal,    i  n 
Ancient  Greece,  2 ;  Rome, 
4;     to    relieve     unemploy- 
ment,    164-165 ;    vs.     con- 
tracts,    in     public     works, 
242-245  ;  relation  to  special 
assessments,  311 
Contagious   diseases,   report- 
ing of,  87.  See  also  Health 
protection 
Contract,    public    works     in 
24 


Rome  constructed  by,  4; 
vs.  direct  municipal  con- 
struction, 241-245 ;  relation 
to  special  assessments,  311 
"onvict  labor,  184 
orporation  courts.  See  Po- 
lice courts 

C   )rporations,     taxation     of, 
306-307:  316 

Corrections,  181-185 

Corruption,    29-30,    43,    139- 
140,  243-244,  276-277,  304, 

315.  337-33^ 
County  poor  relief  in  U.  S., 

177 
Croton  water  system,  22 

Dairies.  See  Milk  supply 
Dance  halls.  144-145,  170 
Debts,  municipal,  purposes 
o'f,  323-328 ;  for  current 
expenses.  328-329 ;  beyond 
life  of  the  improvement, 
329:  in  lieu  of  repayment, 
329-330  ;  floating  debt,  330- 
331 ;  term,  331 ;  repayment, 
331-333;  sinking  fund  vs. 
serial  l)onds,  331-332;  bond 
marketing,  332-333 :  limita- 
tions on  borrowing  power, 
33^'  333;  referendum  on 
bond  issues,  335 
Democratization,  of  French 
cities,  ro-ll;  Prussian  cit- 
ies,   12-13;   English   cities, 

Depreciation  in  utility  valu- 
ation, 256-257 
Detective  service,  29 
Diagonal  streets,   190-191 
Districting.     See  Zoning 
Dog  taxes,  305 
Domestic  animals,  81-82,  83 
Double  taxation,  316 
Dry  closets,  84,  227 


358 


INDEX 


Education,     in     Athens,     3; 
Rome,   6;   medieval  cities, 
7,  8;  19th  Century  Europe, 
15;  United  States,  21;  re- 
lation   to    fire    prevention, 
55-56;  hygiene  and  public 
health,    82;    liquor    traffic, 
140-141 ;    social    evil,    149. 
See  also  Civics ;  Training 
for  public  service 
Education,     public,     general 
discussion  of,  93;  scope  of 
school  system,  94;  munici- 
pal  universities,   95 ;   text- 
books and   lunches,  95-96; 
school  method  and  curric- 
ulum, 96-103;  physical  edu- 
cation, 98;  civics,  99;  vo- 
cational training,  loo-ioi ; 
vacations,    102-103;    wider 
use  o'f   school   plant,    102- 
103,      106-107;      teaching 
staff,     103-105;     buildings 
and     equipment,     106-107; 
adult    education,    107-109; 
night   schools,   108;   public 
libraries,     109-112;     muse- 
ums, 112-113;  moving  pic- 
tures,    113;    public    enter- 
tainments, 113-114;  educa- 
cational         administration, 
1 14-122;  relation  of  school 
authorities  to  city  govern- 
ment,  116-118;  city  super- 
intendent,  120;   civil   serv- 
ice,   120;    central    control, 
121-122;   subventions,   122, 
320;  importance,  352 

Efficiency.     See  Administra- 
tive efficiency 

Elberfelder   system   of   poor 
relief,  180 

Electricity,   for  lighting,   15, 
201-202 


Electric  light  plants,  a  natu- 
ral monopoly,  252 
Eminent  domain,  213-215 
Employees,    municipal,    286- 

288 
Employment    agencies.      See 

unemployment 
England,  development  of  city 
government  in,  13-14;  pub- 
lic schools  established,  15; 
urban    concentration,     17; 
police    administration,    35 ; 
police      subventions,      52 ; 
central    control    of    health 
administration,  91 ;  educa- 
tional administration,   118, 
121;   social  progress,   151; 
poor-law  union,  177;  capi- 
tal punishment,   182;  local 
taxes,  297;  habitation  tax, 
306;   betterment   tax,   312- 
313;        revenue-producing 
property,  317;  subventions, 
320,    322;    central    control, 
321-322,  351;   central  con- 
trol   of   borrowing   power, 
334 ;     municipal     charters, 
345 
Epidemics.     See  Health  pro- 
tection 
Europe,  development  of  mu- 
nicipal functions   in,    i-io, 
14-16;    municipal    govern- 
ment,    10-14;    urban    con- 
centration,   17-18;    regula- 
tion of  morals,  30;  police 
surveillance,  31 ;  collection 
of  vital   statistics,  32;  po- 
lice   administration,   34-35, 
2,7;  cost  of  police  protec- 
tion,   41 ;    police    training 
schools,  49;  central  control 
of  police,  51-52;  fire  pre- 
vention,   54;    central    con- 
trol   of    fire    fighting,    66; 


INDEX 


359 


municipal  slaughterhouses, 
79;  central  control  of 
health  administration.  88; 
vital  statistics,  92;  central 
control  of  schools,  121 ; 
Sunday  amusements,  124, 
127;  government  lotteries, 
124,  129-130;  liquor  traffic, 
134-135.  139.  140;  regula- 
tion of  prostitution,  146- 
147;  workingmen's  cars, 
160;  city  planning,  187, 
211;  railway  stations,  206; 
regulation  of  architecture, 
209;  excess  condemnation, 
214;  power  to  own  prop- 
erty, 214;  water  supply, 
222 ;  per  capita  water  con- 
sumption, 223-224;  public 
utilities,  248;  municipal 
ownership,  289;  municipal 
revenues,  296-297 ;  un- 
earned increment  tax,  300; 
revenue-producing  prop- 
erty, 317,  319;  subventions, 
320;  central  control,  321- 
322;  central  control  of  bor- 
rowing power,  334.  See 
also  under  the  various 
countries 
Excess    condemnation,    213- 

214,  313-314 
Expectoration,  83 
Expenditures,  municipal,  336- 

340 
Expenditures,  per  capita,  18- 

19 

Fairlie,  John  A.,  "Municipal 
Administration,"   9. 

Federal  type  of  city  govern- 
ment, 23 

Filtration,  of  water  supply, 
218-220;   of   sewage,   233- 

234 


Finance  administration,  339- 

340,  341 

Finances,  municipal,  in  Ath- 
ens, 3;  revenues,  296-322; 
debts,  323-336;  expendi- 
tures, 336-340 ;  budget,  338- 
340;    accountmg,   342-343 

Fire  departments.  See  Fire 
protection 

Fire  limits,  58-59 

Fire  loss,  54-55,  60,  61 

Fire  prevention,  in  Europe, 
15,  54;  causes  of  fires,  55- 
57;  education,  55-56;  in- 
spection, 56,  58,  60-61 ; 
incendiarism,  57;  fire- 
proof construction,  58; 
building  regulations,  58- 
60;  relation  of  "movies" 
to,  113 

Fire  protection,  in  Rome,  5 ; 
medieval  cities,  7,  8;  Paris, 
9;  United  States,  21;  gen- 
eral discussion,  54;  organ- 
ization of  fire  departments, 
61-64;  volunteer  depart- 
ments, 62 ;  platoon  systems, 
63-64;  firemen  in  other 
service,  63-64;  fire  sta- 
tions, 64;  apparatus.  64-6^; 
water  systems,  64-66;  cen- 
tral control,  66;  relative 
importance.  352 

Fires :  great  fire  in  Rome,  5 ; 
in  London,  9,  186 

Fleas,  81 

Flies,  80-81 

Floating  debt,  330-331 

Flushing  of  streets,  238 

Fountains,  public,  in  Athens, 
2 ;  in  Rome,  4 

France,  rise  o"f  cities  in,  6, 
8;  development  of  city  gov- 
ernment, 10-12;  urban  con- 
centration, 18;  central  con- 


360 


INDEX 


trol  of  police,  51 ;  fire  pro- 
tection mandatory,  66 ; 
schoolhouse  as  polling 
place,  107;  central  control 
of  schools,  121 ;  absinthe 
prohibited,  140;  subven- 
tions and  central  control, 
320-321 
Franchises,  public  utility, 
history  of,  248-249 ;  in  util- 
ity valuation,  259-261 ;  reg- 
ulation through,  263-270 ; 
term,  263-266;  indetermi- 
nate, 265-266;  service  pro- 
visions, 266-267 ;  rates, 
267-269;  revenue  for  city, 
268-269,  306-307;  employ- 
ees' welfare  provisions, 
269-270;  rights  in  streets, 
270-271 ;  referendum,  281 
French  Revolution,  lo-il 
Functions,  municipal,  history 
of,  1-24;  relative  impor- 
tance, 351-353 

Gambling,  regulation  o'f,  128- 
130 

Garbage,  collection  and  dis- 
posal of,  84-85,  239-241 

Gas,  for  lighting,  15,  22,  201- 
202 

Gas  plants,  a  natural  monop- 
oly, 252 

Gendarmerie,  33 

General    property    tax,    297- 

Germany,  rise  of  cities  in,  6, 
8;  social  progress,  16,  151, 
167;  urban  concentration, 
17-18;  fire  protection  man- 
datory, 66;  compulsory  op- 
portunity for  vocational 
education,  109;  municipal 
use  of  land,  160;  adminis- 
tration of  poor  relief,  177, 


178,  180;  power  to  own 
property,  214;  zoning,  215; 
sewer  rental  charged,  236; 
municipal  revenues,  296- 
297;  unearned  increment 
tax,  300;  local  income  tax, 
305-306;  revenue-produc- 
ing property,  317,  319;  sub- 
ventions, 320;  central  con- 
trol, 321,  350.  See  also 
Prussia 

Goethals,  General,  37,  48 

"Golden  rule"  system  of  po- 
lice administration,  28 

Golf  links,  169 

"Goodwill,"  in  utility  valua- 
tion, 258 

Gothenburg  saloon,  139 

Grade  crossings,  67 

Granite  block  pavements,  22, 
196-197 

Greece,  Ancient,  city-states 
of,  1-3;  public  works,  2; 
poor  relief,  174;  city  plan- 
ning, 186 

Groceries,  79 

Growth  of  cities,  in  Roman 
Empire,  3-4;  Middle  Ages, 
6;  Western  Europe,  6-9, 
17;  19th  Century,  17-19 

Guilds,  7,  8 

Gymnasiums,  170 

Habitation  tax,  306 
Haussman,  Baron,  187,  214 
Health  protection,  in  19th 
Century  Europe,  15;  Unit- 
ed States,  21 ;  general  dis- 
cussion, 68-70;  prevention 
of  disease,  69-70;  food 
supply,  70-80;  water  sup- 
ply. 7^-7Z ;  milk  supply,  jy 
76;  ice  supply,  76-77;  meat 
supply,  77-79 ;  sanitation, 
80-82 ;     noise     prevention. 


INDEX 


361 


82-83;  l^rotection  of  the 
air,  83-84;  waste  disposal, 
84;  garbage  disposal,  85; 
medical  inspection  of 
school  children,  85;  care 
of  mothers  and  infants, 
86;  contagious  diseases, 
87-88;  sanitary  inspection, 
88;  cost,  8f) ;  organization 
of  health  department,  89- 
91;  central  control,  91; 
vital  statistics,  91-92; 
working  conditions,  162- 
163;  playgrounds  and  rec- 
reation, 167-168;  relative 
importance,  352 
Heights  of  buildings,  209 
High  pressure  systems,  65 
High  schools,  public,  95 
Home  rule,  in  Roman  period, 
4;  medieval  cities,  6; 
France,  12;  Prussia,  13, 
348;  England,  14;  United 
States,  19-20;  in  public 
utility  regulation,  275-280; 
taxation,  314-317;  connec- 
tion with  subventions,  321- 
322;  organization  of  gov- 
ernment, 345-347;  munici- 
pal activities,  347-351.  See 
also  Central  control ;  City- 
state;  Democratization 
Hospitals,  87 

Housing,  in  Athens,  3; 
Rome,  5;  historical,  152; 
dangers,  153-154;  rem- 
edies, 155-159;  congestion, 
159-160;  relation  of  munic- 
ipally   owned    real    estate, 

319 

Ice  cream  parlors,  79 
Ice  supply,   76-77 
Improvements,         municipal, 
financing  of,  308,  324-328; 


program,  351-353.  See  also 

City  planning 
Incendiarism,  57 
Incineration,  239,  241 
Income  tax,  local,  305-306 
Indebtedness,  municipal.   See 

Bonds,    Debts,    Finances 
Indeterminate  franchise,  265- 

266 
Industry   and    trade,    in   me- 
dieval cities,  7 
Infant  mortality,  in  relation 

to  milk  supply,  y;^ 
In'fant  welfare,  86,  113 
Injunction      and      abatement 

laws,   148-149 
Insolvency,    municipal,    316, 

329 

Inspection,  in  fire  preven- 
tion, 56,  58,  60-61,  63-64; 
in  protecting  water  supply, 
71-72;  milk  supply,  74-75; 
ice  supply,  yj;  meat  sup- 
ply, 78;  food  products, 
markets  and  eating  places, 
79-80;  in  sanitation,  31- 
32.  88.  See  also  School 
children 

Insurance,  166 

Intangibles,  in  utility  valu- 
ation, 258-261 ;  taxation 
of,  297-299,  316 

Italy,  rise  of  cities  in,  6 

Jails.  Sec  Corrections ;  Mu- 
nicipal farms 

Jewish  conception  of  punish- 
ment, 182 

Juvenile  courts,  185 

Kindergartens,   public,   94-95 

Labor     conditions.     160-163, 

269-270 
Laissec  faire,  247 


362 


INDEX 


Lakes,  pollution  of,  231 

Land,  taxation  of,  299-301 

Landscape  architecture,  190- 
191.  Sec  also  City  beauti- 
fication ;  City  planning 

Laundries,  88 

Legal  aid,  173 

L'Eniant,  186 

Libraries,  in  Rome,  6.  See 
also  Public  libraries 

License  taxes,  305 

Lighting.  See  Street  light- 
ing 

Liquor  traffic,  regulation  of, 
130-141 

Loan  funds,  166 

Loans.  See  Debts,  munici- 
pal 

Log-rolling,  in  appropria- 
tions, 315,  337-338 

London,  municipal  functions 
in,  9-10;  first  modern  po- 
lice force,  15,  33;  sewer- 
age, 15;  central  control  of 
police,  52;  city  plan,  186 

Los  Angeles,  water  supply, 
222 

Lotteries,  129-130 

Macadam,  196-197 

Magistrates'  courts.  See  Po- 
lice courts 

Maintenance  of  street  pave- 
ments, 196-197 

Malaria,  81 

Manure,  81 

Markets,  public,  in  medieval 
cities ;  relation  to  public 
health,  79-80 

Mayor-and-council  type  of 
city  government,  23 

Meat  supply,  77-79 

Medical  aid,  free,  172.  See 
also  Health  protection ; 
Hospitals 


Medical  inspection  o'f  school 
children,  85 

Medieval  cities,  municipal 
functions  in,  7;  housing, 
151 ;  corrections,   181-182 

Merit  system.  See  Civil 
service 

Meters,   water,   225 

Milk  supply,  relation  of,  to 
public  health,  73 ;  pollution 
and  protection,  74-76;  mu- 
nicipalization, 76 

Monopolies.  See  Regulation 

Moonlight    schedule,   201 

Morals,  regulation  of,  rela- 
tion of  police  to,  29-30; 
morals  commissions,  30; 
general  discussion,  123-125 ; 
home    rule,    125,    126-127, 

130.  135-137.  147;  Sunday 
amusements,  125-128;  gam- 
bling, 128-130;  liquor  traf- 
fic, 130-141 ;  saloons,  133- 
140;  indecency  and  sexual 
immorality,  141-149;  pic- 
tures and  exhibitions,  141- 
144;  dance  halls,  144-145; 
social  evil,  145-149 

Mosquitoes,  81 

Moving  pictures,  113.  See 
also  Recreation,  Theaters 

Multiple  taxation,  316 

Municipal  accounting  and  re- 
porting, 342-343 

Municipal  activities,  history 
of,     1-24;    program,    351- 

353 
Municipal  building  and  loan 

funds,  166 
Municipal  charters,  345-347 
Municipal  Corporations  Act, 

France,  11;  England.  13 
Municipal  courts.  See  Police 

courts 


INDEX 


363 


Municipal  dance  halls,  145, 
170 

Municipal  employment  agen- 
cies, 164 

Municipal  farms,  184 

Municipal  finance.  See  Fi- 
nances 

Municipal  Government  Act, 
Prussia,  12-13 

Municipal  government,  de- 
velopment of,  1-24 

Municipal  housing,  157-159 

Municipal  insurance,    166 

Municipal  ownership,  early 
development  of,  22 ;  of  vv^a- 
ter  supply,  jt,,  289 ;  milk 
supply,  76;  ice  supply,  77; 
slaughterhouses,  78  -  79  ; 
markets,  79-80 ;  pawnshops, 
166,  289;  socialist  policy, 
247;  general  discussion, 
282-283;  arguments  for, 
283-285 ;  arguments 
against,  285-288;  criteria 
oi,  289-291  ;  restrictions 
on,  291-292;  financial  pol- 
icy, 292-295,  317-319;  of 
real  estate,  319 

Municipal  pawnshops,  166, 
289 

Municipal  real  estate,  319. 
See  also  Eminent  domain ; 
Excess  condemnation,  etc. 

Municipal  savings  banks, 
166-167 

Municipal  standard  for  labor 
conditions,   161-162 

Municipal  theaters,  289 

Municipal  trading.  Sec  Mu- 
nicipal ownership 

Municipal  utilities.  See  Util- 
ities 

Municipal  utility  commis- 
sions, 281 


Munro,  Wm.  B.,  "Principles 
and  Methods  of  Municipal 
Administration,"  26)1. 

Museums,  11 2- 113,  170 

Napoleon  III.,  187 

Napoleonic  system,  in 
France,  11;  Prussia,  12 

National  Board  of  Censor- 
ship, 143 

National  Civic  Federation, 
288 

Neighborhood  house,  school- 
house  as,  106 

Nero,  5 

Netherlands,  the,  rise  of  cit- 
ies in,  8 

New  York  City,  in  1810,  18- 
19;  water  supply,  22,  222; 
uniformed  police,  33;  po- 
lice commissioner,  37,  48; 
five-platoon  system,  40; 
power  o'f  removal,  48 ;  in- 
fantile paralysis  epidemic, 
90;  city  college,  95;  ar- 
rangement of  streets,  192; 
Catskill  aqueduct,  222 

Night  schools,  108 

Noise   prevention,   82-83 

Nuisances,  80-82 

Occupation  tax,  306 
Oyster    beds,    pollution    of, 
230 

Pageants,  114 

Paris,  importance  of,  8;  mu- 
nicipal functions,  9 ;  sew- 
erage, 15;  replanning,  187, 
214 

Parks,  in  Rome,  5 ;  as  recre- 
ation centers,  169;  in  the 
city  plan.  206-207 

Paving.     See  Street  paving 

Pawnshops,  166 


364 


INDEX 


Penn,  William,  186,  189 

Pensions,  42 

Personal    property,    taxation 

of,  297-299 
Philadelphia,    municipal    gas 

plant,  22 ;  Penn's  city  plan, 

186,   187,   189 
Physical  education,  98 
Piraeus,  public  works  in,  2 
Platoon    systems,    in    police 

departments,     38-40;     fire 

departments,  63-64 
Playgrounds.  167-169 
Police   commissioner,   choice 

and   qualifications    of,   35- 

37 

Police  courts,  efficiency  of, 
28 

Police  protection,  in  Athens, 
3 ;  Rome,  5 ;  medieval  cit- 
ies, 7,  8;  Paris  and  Lon- 
don, 9-10;  19th  Century 
Europe,  15;  United  States, 
20-21 ;  size  of  'force,  26- 
27;  statistics  in  certain  cit- 
ies, 26n. ;  efficiency,  27-28 ; 
"golden  rule"  system,  28; 
of  police  courts,  28;  detec- 
tive service,  29 ;  police- 
women, 29;  morals  regu- 
lation and  police  corrup- 
tion, 29-30,  43,  139-140; 
traffic  regulation,  30-31 ; 
surveillance,  31 ;  collection 
of  vital  statistics,  32;  or- 
ganization of  force,  32-40; 
military  characteristics,  32- 
34,  37;  relation  to  state, 
33.  50-53;  uniforms,  33; 
administration,  34-53;  po- 
lice commissioner,  35-37; 
police  stations.  38;  night 
patrolling,  38;  platoon  sys- 
tems, 38-40;  cost,  41;  pen- 
sions, 41-42;  civil  service, 


42-49 ;  efficiency  records, 
46-47;  training  schools,  49; 
central  control,  51-52;  sub- 
ventions, 52,  320-322 ;  state 
control  in  U.  S.,  52 ;  saloon 
and  police.  139-140;  rela- 
tive importance,  352 

Police  stations,  38 

Policewomen,  29 

Political  influence  of  munici- 
pal employees,  286-288 

Polling  place,  schoolhouse 
as,  107 

Poll  taxes,  305 

Poor  relief,  in  Athens,  3; 
Rome,  6,  174;  medieval  cit- 
ies, 7,  8;  United  States,  21 ; 
historical.  173,  174;  organ- 
ization necessary,  174-176; 
a  governmental  function, 
1 76- 1  yy ;  administration, 
177-181 ;  professional  char- 
acter of  work,  178-180; 
financing,  180-181 ;  impor- 
tance, 352 

Portugal,  rise  of  cities  in,  8 

Prison  farms,  184 

Prison  reform,  182-185 

Privies,  84,  227 

Probation  for  juvenile  of- 
fenders, 185 

Prohibition  of  liquor  traffic, 

132.  133-134,  140 

Prostitution,  145-149 

Prussia,  development  of  city 
government  in,  12-13;  pub- 
lic education  introduced, 
15;  police  surveillance,  31; 
central  control  o'f  police, 
51 ;  educational  administra- 
tion, 118;  central  control 
of  schools,  121 ;  exclusion 
of  indigent  settlers  from 
municipality,     178;     home 


INDEX 


365 


rule,  348.     Sec   also   Ger- 
many 
Public  buildings.    See  Build- 
ings, public 
Public  drinking  cups,  88 
Public  eating  places,  79 
Public  education.     See  Edu- 
cation, public 
Public  health.     See     Health 

protection 
"Public     interest,"    elements 
affecting  a  business  with, 
247-252 
Public  libraries,   iog-ii2 
Public  lighting.     See   Street 

lighting 
Public  morals.     See  Morals 
Public  safety,  general  discus- 
sion of,  25 ;   miscellaneous 
functions,  66-67.     ^^^  ^'•^'^ 
Health     protection ;      Fire 
prevention ;     Fire     protec- 
tion ;     Police     protection ; 
Sanitation 
Public  schools.     See  Educa- 
tion, public 
Public  service    corporations, 
taxation  of,  268,  269,  306- 

307.  316 

Public  service  rates.  See 
Rates 

Public  towels  and  w  a  s  h- 
rooms,  88 

Public  utilities.  See  Munici- 
pal ownership ;  Utilities 

Public  works,  in  Greek  cit- 
ies. 2,  3  ;  Rome,  4-5  ;  med- 
ieval cities,  7,  8;  Paris,  9: 
19th  Century  Europe,  15; 
United  States,  21-22;  rela- 
tion to  unemployment,  164- 
165;  employment  of  pris- 
oners, 184;  general  discus- 
sion, 217-218;  water  sup- 
ply,   218-227;    waste    dis- 


posal, 227-241 ;  direct  con- 
struction z's.  contract,  242- 

245 
Pure  Food  and   Drugs  Act, 
80 

Quarantine,  87,  88 

Railway  stations  and  termi- 
nals, 205-206 

Rate  of  return,  253-255,  262- 
263 

Rates,  public  service :  water, 
225-226,  236-237 ;  sewer- 
age, 236-237;  privately- 
owned  utilities,  254,  267- 
269,  307-308;  relation  to 
municipal  ownership.  284, 
288,  292-295;  street  rail- 
way, 294;  telephone,  294 

Rats,  81 

Recreation,  in  Rome,  5 ;  edu- 
cational, 113-114,  170; 
Sunday  amusements,  125- 
128,  171 ;  public  dancing, 
144-145;  for  factory  work- 
ers, 163;  playgrounds,  167- 
169;  parks,  169;  baths  and 
gymnasiums,  169-170 

Rectangular  street  plan,  189- 
190 

Referendum,  on  franchises, 
281 ;  on  bond  issues.  335 

Refuse  disposal,  84-85 ;  239- 
241 

Regulation  of  public  utilities, 
history  of,  248-249;  need, 
249-253 ;  purpose.  253- 
261  ;  application  through 
franchises,  263-270 ; 
through  courts  and  ordi- 
nances, 272-273;  adminis- 
tration, 281  ;  state  z's.  local, 
274-281.  See  also  Munici- 
pal ownership 


366 


INDEX 


Removal  'from  office,  47-49. 
See  also  Civil  service 

Revenues,  municipal,  from 
utility  franchises,  268-269; 
from  municipal  ownership, 
284,  293-295,  317-319;  tax- 
ation, 296-317;  special  as- 
sessments, 308-313;  excess 
condemnation,  313-314; 
revenue-producing  proper- 
ty. 317-320;  subventions, 
320-322 

Ring  boulevards,  191 

Rome,  municipal  functions 
in,  3-6;  housing,  151;  poor 
relief,  174;  city  planning, 
186 

Rubbish,  81 

Russia,  vodka  prohibited  in, 
140 

St.  Louis,  state  police  com- 
mission in,  53 

Saloons,  133-137;  regulation 
of,  137-140;  revenue  from, 

305 

Sand  filters,  218-222 

Sanitation,  in  Athens,  3 ; 
Rome,  5 ;  medieval  cities, 
7;  Paris  and  London,  9-10; 
general  discussion,  80-82; 
of  public  property,  82 ;  edu- 
cation in,  82,  113 

Savings  banks,  166-167 

Saxony.     See  Germany 

Scholastic  age,  94 

School  buildings,  105-106. 
See  also  Wider  use  o'f 
school  plant 

School  children,  medical  in- 
spection of,  85 

School  lunches,  95-96 

Schools :  in  Rome,  6.  See 
also  Education 


Securities,    issuance    of,    by 

utilities,  268 
Sedimentation,  220,  232 
Segregation  of  vice,  148 
Septic   process   of   purifying 

sewage,  233 
Serial  bonds,  331-332 
Service,  public  utility,  254, 
266-267;  relation  to  mu- 
nicipal ownership,  283,  284, 
288,  292-295;  relation  to 
utility    corporation    taxes, 

307 

Sewage  farms,  231-232,  235 

Sewerage,  in  Rome,  5;  Lon- 
don, 10;  19th  Century  Eu- 
rope, 15;  United  States, 
22;  compulsory  connection 
with  sewer,  84;  size  of  sys- 
tem, 228;  storm  sewers, 
229;  sewage  disposal,  230- 
236;  broad  irrigation,  231; 
"chemical  precipitation," 
232;  septic  process,  233; 
filtration,  234 ;  charges, 
236-237;  importance,  352 

Shingle  roofs,  59 

Single  tax,  300-301 

Sinking  fund,  331-332 

Skating  rinks,  170 

Slaughterhouses,   78-79 

Sludge,  230-346 

Slums,  153-154 

Smoke  abatement,  83-84 

Snow  removal,  239 

Social  center,  school  building 
as,  106 

Social  evil,  145-149 

Socialist  policy,  247 

Social  welfare,  development 
of,  16;  general  discussion, 
150-151 ;  housing,  151-160; 
working  conditions,  160- 
163 ;  unemployment,  163- 
165;  insurance  and  indus- 


INDEX 


367 


trial  aid,   165-167;   recrea- 
tion,  167- 1 71 ;  medical  fa- 
cilities, 172;  legal  aid,  173; 
poor   relief,    173-1B1  ;   cor- 
rections,  181-185;  relation 
to  city  planning,    188-189; 
importance,  352-353 
Somers  system,  190.  See  also 
Unit  system  of  realty  val- 
uation 
Spain,  rise  of  cities  in,  6,  8 
Special  assessments,  in  street 
paving,     199-200;     in    city 
planning,  213;  general  dis- 
cussion,   308-313;    restric- 
tions upon,  311-312 
Special  legislation,  346,  348 
Sprinkling  filters,  234 
State   control.     See    Central 

control 
State    regulation    of    public 

utilities,  275-281 
State    supervision    of    water 

supply,  72-73 
Stein,  Baron  vom,  13 
Storm  sewers,  228-229 
Streams,    pollution    of,    231, 

234,  235 
Streets,     arrangement,     189- 
192;   width,   192-195.     Sec 
also  City   planning;   Traf- 
fic; Transportation 
Street    cleaning,    in    Athens, 
3 ;  Rome,  5 ;  medieval  cit- 
ies, 7,  8;   Paris  and  Lon- 
don, 9;   19th  Century  Eu- 
rope, 15;  relation  to  health 
protection,  83  ;  general  dis- 
cussion,   237-239;    disposal 
of  street  refuse,  238-230 
Street   franchise  rights,  248, 

270-272 
Street  lighting,  in  Athens,  3  ; 
Rome,   5 ;   medieval   cities, 
7;  Paris  and  London,  9-10; 


19th  Century  Europe,  15; 
United  States,  22;  relation 
to  police  protection,  38, 
203 ;  general  discussion, 
200-204;  relative  impor- 
tance, 352 

Street  paving,  in  Athens,  2; 
Rome,  5;  medieval  cities, 
7;  Paris  and  London,  9; 
19th  Century  Europe,  15; 
United  States,  21-22;  gen- 
eral discussion,  195-197; 
relation  to  traffic,  197-199; 
base,  199;  financing,  199- 
200,  310;  relative  impor- 
tance, 352 

Street  railways,  in  city  plan- 
ning, 204-206;  a  natural 
monopoly,  252 ;  municipal 
ownership,  289 ;  financial 
policy,  294 

Subnormal  children,  educa- 
tion of,  97 

Subventions,  in  police  ad- 
ministration, 52-53;  school 
administration,  122;  gen- 
eral discussion,  320-322. 
See  also  Central  control 

Sunday  amusements.  Sec 
Morals,  regulation  of; 
Recreation 

Taxation,  as  a  source  of  rev- 
enue, 296;  general  proper- 
ty tax,  297-299 ;  taxation 
of  land,  299-301 ;  unearned 
increment  tax.  300,  308; 
single  tax,  300-301 ;  assess- 
ment, 301-304;  collection, 
304-305 ;  license  and  busi- 
ness taxes,  305;  local  in- 
come tax,  305-306;  occu- 
pation or  habitation  tax, 
306;  corporation  taxes, 
306-307,    316;    special    as- 


368 


INDEX 


sessments,  308-313;  excess 
condemnation,  313-314; 
limitations  on  taxing  pow- 
er, 314-317 

Tax  liens,  305 

Tax  maps,  304 

Tax  rolls,  relation  o'f  police 
surveillance  to,  32 

Tax  sale  titles,  305 

Telephone,  a  natural  monop- 
oly, 252;  financial  policy, 
294 

Tenements.     See  Housing 

Tennis  courts,  169 

Terminals,  205 

Textbooks,  free,  95-96 

Theaters,  fire  prevention  in, 
60;  municipal  ownership 
of,  289.  See  also  Moving 
pictures;  Recreation 

Third  Republic,  11 

Thirty  Years'  War,  8 

Toledo,  O.,  "golden  rule" 
police  system  in,  28;  mu- 
nicipal university,  95 

Tower  lights,  202 

Trade  and  industry,  in  med- 
ieval cities,  7 

Trade  routes,  6,  8 

Traffic,  regulation  of,  30-31, 
194-195;  relation  to  street 
paving,  197-199  _ 

Training  for  public  service, 

49 
Transportation,  in  relation  to 

housing,  160;  in  city  plan- 
ning, 204-206 
Tuberculin  test,  74 
Tuberculosis,  83-84,  153 
Typhoid  fever,  relation  of,  to 
water  supply,  71,  230 

Unearned  Increment,  in  val- 
uing public  utilities,  255- 
256;   in  municipal  owner- 


ship, 283 ;  relation  to  tax- 
ation, 300-301 ;  to  special 
assessments,  308-311 

Unearned  increment  tax,  300, 
308 

Unemployment,  163-165 

Uniform  municipal  account- 
ing, 342 

Unit  system  of  realty  valua- 
tion, 303-304 

United  Charities,  176 

United  States,  rise  o'f  cities 
in,  18;  urban  concentra- 
tion, 19;  development  of 
city  government,  19-20, 
23 ;  municipal  functions  in, 
20-24 ;  municipal  owner- 
ship, 22;  social  awakening 
in,  24_ 

Universities,  municipal,  95 

Urban  concentration.  See 
Growth  of  cities 

Utilities,  development  of,  in 
U.  S.,  22;  labor  conditions 
of  employees,  162,  269- 
270;  general  discussion, 
246-248 ;  regulation,  248- 
281 ;  franchises,  248-249, 
263-270,  281 ;  competition, 
249-252;  rate  of  return, 
253-255,  262-263 ;  service, 
254,  266-267;  rates,  254, 
267-269 ;  capitalization, 
255 ;  valuation,  255-261 ;  is- 
suance of  securities,  268; 
state  vs.  local  regulation, 
274-281 ;  taxation,  306- 
307.  See  also  Electricity; 
Gas,  etc.;  Municipal  own- 
ership; Rates 

Vacant  lots,  81 

Valuation  of  public  utilities, 

255-261;      land,     255-256; 

buildings    and   plant,   256- 


INDEX 


369 


258;  depreciation,  256-257; 
intangibles,  258-261  ;  fran- 
chise, 259-261 ;  for  pur- 
chase, 266 

Valuation  of  real  estate,  unit 
system  of,  190.  303-304. 
See  also  Assessment 

Vehicle  taxes,  305 

Vehicles,  width  of,  as  unit 
of  street  width,  194;  park- 
ing of,  195 

Vermin,  81-82 

Vice  commissions,  30,  148. 
Sec  also  Morals,  regula- 
tion of 

Vital  statistics,  collection  of, 
by  police,  32 ;  importance, 
91-92 

Vocational     education,     100- 

lOI 

Volunteer  fire  departments, 
62 

Voting  lists,  relation  of  po- 
lice surveillance  to,  ^2 

Washington,  D.  C,  city  plan, 
186,  187;  Union  Station, 
206 

Waste  disposal,  84,  227-241. 
See  also  Garbage  disposal ; 
Sewerage 

"Water"  in  utility  capitaliza- 
tion, 255,  283  ' 

Water    rates,    225-226,    236- 

237 
Water  supply,  in  .\thcns,  2 ; 
Rome,  4;  19th  Century  Eu- 
rope,   16;    United    States, 
22;  for  fire  protection,  64- 


66;  central  control,  72, 
223;  municipal  ownership, 
73;  pollution,  70-71,  234- 
235;  protection,  71-72;  fil- 
tration, 218-220;  chemical 
treatment,  221-222;  ade- 
quate supply,  222;  con- 
sumption, 224 ;  waste,  224- 
225 ;    rates,    225-227,    292- 

293 
Water  waste,  224-225 

Waterworks,  municipal  own- 
ership of,  73,  289;  a  natu- 
ral monopoly,  250-252 ; 
financial  policy,  292-293; 
importance,  352 

Western  Europe,  rise  of  cit- 
ies in,  6 

"White  Way"  lighting,  202, 

352 
Wider  use   of   school   plant, 

102-103,  106-107,  no 
Width  of  streets,  192-195 
Wires,  overhead,  67 
Wood    pavements,    22,    196- 

197 
Working  conditions,   160-163 
Workingmen's  cars,  160 
Workingmen's  dwellings,  160 
Works,   public.      Sec    Public 

works 
Wren,    Sir    Christopher,    9, 

186 

Yellow  fever,  81 

Zoning.  59,  209-211.  319 
Zoological  gardens,   113,   170 


(2) 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


fcw 


FEB  7       1934, 


FEB  ^ 


W 


JAN  1  6  1950 
JAN  2  0  1954 

Apr  17    '59 
May     18    '59 


Form^L-9-10m-5,'28 


J^ 


JS 
J23m 


James  — 

Municipal 
functions. 


UC  SOUTHf  Rrj  RFGinrjii  I  iKDADy  FACILITY 


AA    000  516  072    6 


■  IS^ 


NGH, 

FORMA, 


LIF. 


